Overview
This site contains a mix of art reviews, project documentation, social commentary and journal writing. Rather than publish a chronological, edited presentation of my work, I’m experimenting with a journalistic view of my practice in blog format.
Bio
Combining humor, social commentary and a low-tech aesthetic, Tom Sarver explores relationships between the art world and the everyday. His projects span a variety of disciplines including performance, installation, puppetry and events. Sarver’s concepts are often realized in storefronts, houses, and public spaces. These include building an evolving museum in a city row house, opening a “bait & tackle” shop in Downtown Pittsburgh, and coordinating a series of Olympic-inspired performance events. From 1999 through 2008, Sarver was a core organizer of The Black Sheep Puppet Festival, a national festival of activist and experimental puppetry. He holds a B.F.A. from Tyler School of Art and an M.F.A. from Purchase College. Sarver is currently working on a new puppetry initiative in Pittsburgh called Puppet Happening.
Solo Exhibitions
2010
Queasy, Richard and Dolly Maass Gallery, Purchase, NY
2009
Sarver’s Bait & Tackle, Three Rivers Arts Festival, Pittsburgh, PA
2008
Cooking With Sticks, Society for Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh, PA
2006-08
The Tom Museum, Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, PA
2003
Political Gizmology, Slippery Rock University, Slippery Rock, PA
2001
From Puppets to Paintings, AAP Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
2000
Dreamscapes, The Hoyt Institute of Fine Arts, New Castle, PA
Selected Group Exhibitions
2011
Reflectons: Homage to Dunkard Creek, Jackson Kelly Gallery, Morgantown, WV
Your Place at the Banquet, Future Tenant Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
2010
Pulp Friction, James Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
Planet of Slums, Mason Gross Galleries, New Brunswick, NJ
Curators: LaToya Frazier and Omar Lopez-Chahoud
Gulf Oil Disaster Response, Landslide Gallery, Chicago, IL
Curated by The Foster Collective
The Real LR word, Ligne Roset, Park Avenue South, New York, NY
Curator: Omar Lopez-Chahoud
AbstrACTION, The Arts Exchange, White Plains, NY
Curator: Dara Meyers-Kingsley
Five Alive, Mona Rowe Gallery, New York, NY
2009
Faux Show, Richard and Dolly Maass Gallery, Purchase, NY
2008
Pittsburgh Biennial, Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Pittsburgh, PA
2007
8 – Hour Drawings, Bowman Gallery, Allegheny College, Meadville, PA
Curator: Robert Raczka
2006
My Space, Space Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
Curator: Sharmila Venkatasubban
Tom Sarver and Francis Crisafio, Digging Pitt Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
Curator: John Morris
2005
Members Exhibition, Brew House Space 101, Pittsburgh, PA
Annual Exhibition, Three Rivers Arts Festival, Pittsburgh, PA
Curator: Katherine Talcott
Puppets, Masks and Art in Motion, Artists Upstairs, Pittsburgh, PA
Curator: Tavia LaFolette
2004
AMP, The Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA
Juried by Tom Sokolowski
2003
Gestures, Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, PA
Curators: Michael Olijnyk and Graham Shearing
Selected Performances
2011
Digestion, Future Tenant Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
2008
Art Olympic Theatre IV, Three Rivers Arts Festival, Market Square,
Pittsburgh, PA (featured festival event)
Art Olympic Theatre III, Union Project, Pittsburgh, PA
2007
Installation Olympic Theatre, Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, PA
Art Olympic Theatre II, New Hazlett Theater, Pittsburgh, PA
2005
Global Warming, Art All Night, Pittsburgh, PA (solo site-specific performance)
World Stage, Flux 12, Pittsburgh, PA (solo site-specific performance)
Curator: Sharmila Venkatasubban
2003
Perseus, Medusa and The Magic Frisbee, Fifth Annual Black Sheep Puppet
Festival, Pittsburgh, PA (puppetry collaboration with team of ten artists and
musicians)
Grants/Awards
2011
A.W. Mellon Award, Pittsburgh Foundation
2008
A.W. Mellon Award, Pittsburgh Foundation
2007
Seed Award, Sprout Fund
Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council Mayor’s Award for Public Art
Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts Project Grant
Small Arts Initiative Grant, Heinz Endowments
2006
Creative Heights Initiative Grant, Heinz Endowments
Residencies
2012
Future Tenant Art Space, Trespass Performance Residency (Puppet Happening project), Pittsburgh, PA
2006-08
Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, PA
2007
Pittsburgh Center for the Arts School and Community Arts
Program.
Exhibitions Curated
2011
Lascaux to Garfield, Irma Freeman Center for Imagination, Pittsburgh, PA
2008
Binding Forces, Works by self-taught artists Dorothy Williams and Doug
Hill, Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Pittsburgh, PA
2004
From the Inside, Works by self-taught artists Steve Smith, Robert Wright
and Dorothy Williams, Brew House Space 101, Pittsburgh, PA
2005
What It Is, Brew House, Pittsburgh, PA (street art festival and exhibition
included over forty artists and musicians; co-curated with Alexis Covato)
Selected Bibliography
Crawley, Dave, “Fish Artist.” KD Country, KDKA, CBS Broadcasting, Pittsburgh, June 12, 2009
Puppetry International, “40 Under 40, Quick Takes on Young Masters World-Wide.” Spring and summer, 2009
The Dominion Post, Morgantown, WV. “3 teams of artists face off in challenge.” October 11, 2007
Diehl, Dawnlyn, “From Puppets to Political Activism.” Pittsburgh Metropolitan, March / April 2007
Ganster, Kathleen, “His home, his work, His museum.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 24, 2006
Shaw, Kurt. “Puppet Master.” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, September 7, 2006
O’Toole, Christine. “The Tom Show.” Pittsburgh Magazine, September 2006
Hundt, Brad. “At the Tom Museum, it’s all about an artist named Tom.” Washington Pennsylvania Observer-Reporter, September 8, 2006
Shaw, Kurt. “Personal Space.” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, April 13, 2006
Knepp, Gregory M. “Space Crafts.” Pittsburgh City Paper, April 2006
Venkatasubban, Sharmila. “Small, Good Things.” Pittsburgh City Paper, December 25, 2002
Thomas, Mary. “Bright Images, “home” assemblages light up galleries.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 13, 2001
