All about Tj

Artist's Statement, Bio, Studio, Tunes, more

2 DECADES OF HIDDEN STUDIO WORKS NOW PUBLIC

Tom Aitken grew up north of Detroit and came to the city to work in the early seventies. He assembled Cadillacs and Mustangs, worked in die models and show prototypes and then went to Eastern Michigan University for a BFA in sculpture cum laude. He founded his first studio business in Colorado doing museum replicas and his own sculpture, winning shows in Vail and Denver. However life turned him back to Michigan and automotive design.
Returning to the States his studio work combined his portraiture and car sculpting interests into a single theme of work: "The Impact of the Auto on Human society." He developed Aesthetic Analysis tools for both the auto industry and for abstract sculpture, and studied creativity management, inventing new tools for business.
Through it all his first love has been sculpture. The hidden works from 2 decades are now coming out of his studio starting with the "Nikes" series, portraits of classic cars from the Boomer's experience. Now Tj is sculpting full time, casting bronzes, and producing pieces in large and small scales.
  

Hear Tj's radio interview about his works here:

Artist's Statement

My art is a constant study of form, material, statement and object.

Small studies tend to be portraits of form in action and attitude representing the drama of a message. It is important that these stand alone as objects for viewing, but they are usually small sentences in a paragraph touching a subject of my contemplation. The works are tied to historical perspectives and often stem from the intense changes wrought by our modern world on the human condition.
I have been immensely blessed with time at the feet of Rodin, Brancusi, the Deco artists, Henry Moore and a number of master design sculptors from the automobile industry in which I once worked.

There is so much stuff in our culture, that we take objects and their design for granted. Many of my works reconstruct these objects for broader insight into their design, and ourselves.
 
 






Several veins of craft run simultaneously for me. Sometimes I'm using studied surface development, sometimes seeking whimsical combinations of charged object or material, but always seeking form with a story. The viewer should see something worth meditation in these works. I believe intensely in analysis of form as the construct for offering the viewer an experience at several levels, should he pause and ponder.

History

Hello, I'm T. J. (Tom) Aitken, Sculptor, Designer and Professional Creative.
I've been sculpting since I was a kid. I have had the pleasure of modeling show cars in Detroit and managing groups of sculptors. I also do consulting with companies who need a shot of creativity when they are starting a new project. I have workshops on creativity subjects like; Supercharging Thought Process, Thinking 3D, Analysis of Form, and Craftsmanship, and can facilitate group creativity workshops.
People ask: "How do you get a job like that?" This is my professional bio. In italic type I also include my personal side because this is key to understanding my passions, and capabilities.
06 to Now: I use automobiles and other forms in outdoor works, as well as portraiture and multi-media constructions. I've been a University lecturer at international schools. My wife Sarah and I run Novus Resource studio in Michigan. We are committed Christians and work with international teams on logistics, planning and creative process.

04 to 05 Creativity for Industry
I worked as an industrial design director for Johnson Controls, a $30 billion, fortune 300 company primarily in automotive. There I studied the emerging field of creativity management and assessment. I worked with some of the nations top creative people. In May, 05, I spoke at the "Front end of innovation" conference in Boston about my process.

I began working with faith based start ups in Texas, Michigan and Indonesia on applied creativity during this time creating tools for boosting creativity in the creator's church.

2000 to 04 Aesthetic Analysis - Craftsmanship
Prior to the creativity assignment I developed the company's Craftsmanship Analysis System. Which has been Patented and imitated by other major manufacturers in appliances and automobiles. This provided the entire company with clear definitions of terms for aesthetics a measurement system and an "up front" control process. A key to this success was the creation of interactive teaching tools that I used to train some 4000 engineers. I traveled to Europe, Japan, Korea, and China with these workshops. I published papers on analysis with the University of Michigan's engineering department. The sculpture meadow near my home began in this period, with the car installations, and I began to experiment with color formulas for cement casting of sculptural objects. The themes of portraiture and auto influences on society merged into larger works.


Late 90s - Europe - Studio building, and lectures
I worked as a design manager and developed workshops on "Analysis of Form" for design groups. In 1998 the family moved to Europe. There I was part of a team developing a new design studio that worked with BMW, Audi, Fiat, and many European car- makers. I recruited, set up facilities, and methodologies for studio operations. I received patents on product designs. My wife, Sarah and I saw and studied the major art collections throughout Europe. Our teenagers finished their final years of high school there. I was a lecturer and consultant to the University of Hertfordshire School of Art and Design and worked with teams from the Instituto Eurpeo Design in Milan.

Early 90s - Computers for Sculptors
My task at JCI prior to Europe was to manage the transition from clay design models into computer aided industrial design. This required educational strategies, recruiting, tech assessment and purchasing. The former Prince Corporation design group grew from 25 people to nearly 200 worldwide during this period.
Sarah developed concepts for home schooling that she used with our children. She created a method for individualized student assessment and custom curriculum development that she then applied with many families. Together we created Novus Resource Inc. to run the school and the art studio. Students graduated from the school with high school diplomas. We worked together on the concept of Zero Based Learning. I was on the Board of Directors for the American Professional Model Makers Society, and lead the local Congressional Arts Competition.

80s
87, 88, 89, I worked in a variety of Detroit shops as a contract Design Sculptor doing show cars and intricate wind tunnel models. The Prince Company moved us to West Michigan in 89.
We had established Contemporary Studios in Colorado 1980. This company marketed our work and did development and reproduction for other artists and artisans, including pewter miniatures, bronze museum replicas, character dolls, toy and kit development and manufacture. I was elected Mayor of our small town in 83, and attracted development funds, obtained grants and saw many community improvements. Our children were born in the Rockies. Here we also developed spiritually and began working with churches and home school concepts. In 1987 the family came back to Michigan.


70s
I was a craftsman working in Detroit in die models, boats, displays and experimental plastics. I learned precision 3D techniques and development methods for all kinds of objects. Always a political activist, I worked my way through school with two internships for the Detroit city council and jobs at the university sculpture studio, where I cast bronzes, and did some video documentary. I met and married Sarah at University and then graduated with a BFA cum laude in Sculpture from Eastern Michigan University in 1977. We moved to Colorado where we ran a production jewelry casting operation, I tooled a fiberglass kit car, and I was contracted to build an art bronze foundry.

All in all it has been a blessed journey. I'd like your project to become part of the story too.
Thanks,
Tj

The Studio

Tj's studio is located on a 4 acre site in Holland MI. Here he works in many types of materials and develops the sculpture concepts.

Tj's Tunes

 
A small corner of Tj's Studio is dedicated to music. He writes and sings songs about his experiences and occasionally records with members of the Country Storm band from next door. Joe Moore has helped him by laying down base and drum tracks on a few of these numbers. His original compositions can be downloaded here for free. They include "Going in the Hole" , a song about the auto assembly line, "Empty Road" about hitch hiking America, and "Blue Hair Blues" about the festival in Holland Michigan. Hope you like them.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
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