Thomas Tulis
Encyclopedia
Thomas Tulis is an American
photographer and painter
living and working in Atlanta, Georgia
. He was born in Chattanooga
, Tennessee
.
Tulis lives a very simple life.
After a couple of years of college, Tulis joined the United States Army
. After the army he put all of his time and efforts into his art
. In 1985 he was able to open his first studio
and that same year was asked to do his first exhibition.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
photographer and painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
living and working in Atlanta, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
. He was born in Chattanooga
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chattanooga is the fourth-largest city in the US state of Tennessee , with a population of 169,887. It is the seat of Hamilton County...
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
.
Tulis lives a very simple life.
After a couple of years of college, Tulis joined the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
. After the army he put all of his time and efforts into his art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
. In 1985 he was able to open his first studio
Studio
A studio is an artist's or worker's workroom, or the catchall term for an artist and his or her employees who work within that studio. This can be for the purpose of architecture, painting, pottery , sculpture, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, radio or television...
and that same year was asked to do his first exhibition.
Work
- In "The South by Its Photographers" curated by Ellen FleurovEllen FleurovEllen Fleurov is an American museum curator and photography historian. She is the president and founder of Crossroads Traveling Exhibitions.-References:...
, Tulis' work was included with many other Southern artistArtistAn artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
s including Shelby Lee AdamsShelby Lee AdamsShelby Lee Adams is an American environmental portrait photographer and artist best known for his images of Appalachian family life.-Life and career:...
, Walter Beckham, Debbie Fleming Caffery, William ChristenberryWilliam ChristenberryWilliam Christenberry is a photographer, painter, and sculptor who works with personal and somewhat mythical themes growing out of his childhood experiences in Hale County, Alabama....
, Chip Cooper, William Greiner, Birney Imes, Jack SpencerJack SpencerJack Spencer is a self-taught American photographer.Spencer was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi and his first love was music, performing in rock bands making a recording. He is probably best known for his series, Native Soil that featured deep sepia tones combined with deep-South imagery...
and Melissa SpringerMelissa SpringerMelissa Springer is an American photojournalist whose work has appeared in numerous publications, including Aperture, Elle, Forbes, Harper's Bazaar, The New York Times Magazine, Los Angeles Times Magazine, Southern Living, The Village Voice and House & Garden.Springer was one of the first...
among others. This exhibition travelled from the Birmingham Museum of ArtBirmingham Museum of ArtFounded in 1951, the Birmingham Museum of Art in Birmingham, Alabama today has one of the finest collections in the Southeast US, with more than 24,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and decorative arts representing a numerous diverse cultures, including Asian, European, American,...
in Birmingham, AlabamaBirmingham, AlabamaBirmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
to Columbia Museum of ArtColumbia Museum of ArtThe Columbia Museum of Art in Columbia, South Carolina has a collection of European and American fine and decorative art that spans several centuries...
in ColumbiaColumbia, South CarolinaColumbia is the state capital and largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The population was 129,272 according to the 2010 census. Columbia is the county seat of Richland County, but a portion of the city extends into neighboring Lexington County. The city is the center of a metropolitan...
, South CarolinaSouth CarolinaSouth Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
and the Louisiana Center for Arts and Sciences Baton Rouge, LouisianaLouisianaLouisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
. This became an auspicious exhibition that spurred the careers of many of these Southern photographers. This exhibition was also made into a book by Susan Sipple Elliott, with an introduction by John E. Schloder, "The South by Its Photographers."
- In 2003, Tulis was chosen to be part of Wait Until Dark along with Lewis BaltzLewis BaltzLewis Baltz is a visual artist and well known photographer who became an important figure in the New Topographic movement of the late 1970s....
, Harvey Caplin, Todd HidoTodd HidoTodd Hido is an American contemporary artist and photographer. Currently based in San Francisco, much of Hido’s work involves urban and suburban housing across the U.S., of which the artist produces large, highly detailed and luminous color photographs."Hido's photographs reveal isolation and...
, David Leventhal, William GreinerWilliam GreinerWilliam Greiner in New Orleans, LA is an Americanphotographer, now living in Baton Rouge, LA.- Career :Greiner began his career as a sports photographer, first working in the National Football League , at the age of 18, from 1977-1979...
, Michael KennaMichael KennaMichael "Hinky Dink" Kenna was one of the two aldermen elected in Chicago's First Ward, from 1897 to 1923.At the age of ten, Kenna left school and began selling newspapers. By the age of twelve, he had borrowed fifty dollars from a bar keeper and purchased a news stand at the corner of Monroe and...
, O. Winston LinkO. Winston LinkOgle Winston Link , known commonly as O. Winston Link, was an American photographer. He is best known for his black-and-white photography and sound recordings of the last days of steam locomotive railroading on the Norfolk & Western in the United States in the late 1950s...
, Richard MisrachRichard MisrachRichard Misrach is an American photographer known for his photographs of human intervention in landscapes. His works are represented in more than fifty major museum collections around the world....
, Jules Shulman, George TiceGeorge TiceGeorge Tice is an American photographer best known for his large-format black-and-white photographs of New Jersey. Tice was born in Newark, New Jersey, and self-trained as a photographer...
and Henry Wessel, Jr.Henry Wessel, Jr.Henry Wessel, Jr. is an American photographer noted for his descriptive, yet poetic photographs of the human environment.- Photography career :...
The exhibition took place at The Williams College Museum of ArtWilliams College Museum of ArtThe Williams College Museum of Art is a teaching museum located in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It is a department of Williams College. The museum's mission is to "advance learning through lively and innovative approaches to art for the students of Williams College and communities beyond the...
, Fresno, CaliforniaFresno, CaliforniaFresno is a city in central California, United States, the county seat of Fresno County. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 510,365, making it the fifth largest city in California, the largest inland city in California, and the 34th largest in the nation...
. The photographers for this exhibit were selected from the photography collection of Jay Richard DiBiaso.
- In June 2002, Tulis work was selected to be part of "House: Ten Artists Photograph Domestic Architecture," an exhibit curated by Carol John at ATHICA: Athens Institute for Contemporary ArtAthens Institute for Contemporary ArtThe Athens Institute for Contemporary Art is a non-profit 501 contemporary art gallery in Athens, Georgia.Lizzie Zucker Saltz, ATHICA's founder and director, began the institute in 2001 with the help of FiveArt, Inc., a group of local developers and arts boosters. FiveArt, Inc...
. Evie McKenna, Rinnie Allen, Michael StipeMichael StipeJohn Michael Stipe is an American singer and lyricist. He was the lead vocalist of the alternative rock band R.E.M.Stipe is noted and occasionally parodied for the "mumbling" style of his early career as well as his social and political activism. He was in charge of R.E.M.'s visual image; often...
, Carl Martin, and Mark Steinmetz were also included in this exhibition.
- In 2004, Tulis work was chosen to be part of "So Atlanta: Artists Respond to the Contemporary City" curated by Felicia Feaster and Helena Reckitt. The exhibition also included the work of Karen Rich Beall, Sarah Doughrety, Samm Hill, Ron Jude and Ohm Phanphiroj among others.
- He has also shown at The Contemporary in Atlanta.
- Tulis was represented by AgnesAgnes (gallery)Agnes was a Birmingham, Alabama photography gallery from 1993 to 2001. Shawn Boley, Jon Coffelt and Jan Hughes opened the gallery with the mission of attempting to raise awareness of social issues — such as cancer, AIDS, death and dying, the environment, homelessness, ethics, racism,...
having had two solo and several group exhibitions there. Tulis was Agnes second solo exhibition.
- His work has been covered by Frank151, Creative LoafingCreative LoafingCL Inc. is the Tampa, Florida-based publisher of three city newsweeklies and their associated websites. Each of the papers focuses on local news, politics, arts and entertainment, and restaurants...
, American Photography, ApertureAperture (magazine)Aperture is a quarterly photography magazine and a book publisher based in New York, New York. The magazine is published by Aperture Foundation, a non-profit organization devoted to fine art photography.-Magazine:...
, Image Geek, ShotsMag, The SunThe Sun (newspaper)The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...
, Oxford AmericanOxford AmericanThe Oxford American is an American quarterly literary magazine "dedicated to featuring the very best in Southern writing while documenting the complexity and vitality of the American South."-First publication:...
and ViewfinderViewfinderIn photography, a viewfinder is what the photographer looks through to compose, and in many cases to focus, the picture. Most viewfinders are separate, and suffer parallax, while the single-lens reflex camera lets the viewfinder use the main optical system. Viewfinders are used in many cameras of...
.
- Tulis exhibited the now infamous, experimental art space Neo-Post-Now Gallery from 1992 to 1997. The gallery was located in Manitowoc, WisconsinManitowoc, WisconsinManitowoc is a city in and the county seat of Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, United States. The city is located on Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Manitowoc River. According to the 2000 census, Manitowoc had a population of 34,053, with over 50,000 residents in the surrounding communities...
and also exhibited the work of Matt Fink, Brett Hanson, Jimmy von Milwaukee, Eric Lunde, Alan Luft, NigelNigelNigel is an English masculine given name. The name is derived from the Latin Nigellus. This Latin word would seem to derive from the Latin niger, meaning "black"; however this is thought to be an example of an incorrect etymology created by French speaking clerics, who knew Latin as well, to...
, Lamar Sorrento, James Stark, and Bob Watt among many others.
- His work is in numerous collectionsCollection (museum)A museum is distinguished by a collection of often unique objects that forms the core of its activities for exhibitions, education, research, etc. This differentiates it from an archive or library, where the contents may be more paper-based, replaceable and less exhibition oriented...
throughout the US and EuropeEuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
such as the Milwaukee Art MuseumMilwaukee Art MuseumThe Milwaukee Art Museum is located on Lake Michigan in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.Beginning around 1872, multiple organizations were founded in order to bring an art gallery to Milwaukee, as the city was still a growing port town with little or no facilities to hold major art exhibitions...
, Mint Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern ArtMuseum of Modern ArtThe Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Orlando Museum of Art, the New Orleans Museum of ArtNew Orleans Museum of ArtThe New Orleans Museum of Art is the oldest fine arts museum in the city of New Orleans. It is situated within City Park, a short distance from the intersection of Carrollton Avenue and Esplanade Avenue, and near the terminus of the "Canal Street - City Park" streetcar line...
as well as the New York Public LibraryNew York Public LibraryThe New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...
.
- In 1997, Tulis was Artist in Residence at Pouch Cove Foundation located near St. John's, the capital of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, is a self-sustaining, not for profit art retreat.
Quotes
- Two hundred and fifty images laid before me and I was enthralled. They were perfect. I wished I used more of them. The photography brought a sense of presence, of immediacy and of realism to a space that I knew would soon be awash in metaphors within a visionary frame. -Steven Guynup
Books
- Explorations: 10 Portfolios, Aperture No. 130, Winter 1993, The Aperture FoundationAperture FoundationThe Aperture Foundation was founded in 1952 by Ansel Adams, Minor White, Barbara Morgan, Dorothea Lange, Nancy Newhall, Beaumont Newhall, Ernest Louie, Melton Ferris, and Dody Warren. Their vision was to create a forum for fine art photography, a new concept at the time. The first issue of...
, 1993. ISBN 0-89381-529-2 - The South By Its Photographers, Photographic images by forty-eight of the South's best photographers by Susan Sipple Elliott, introduction by John E. Schloder, University Press of MississippiUniversity Press of MississippiThe University Press of Mississippi, founded in 1970, is a publisher that is sponsored by the eight state universities in Mississippi:*Alcorn State University*Delta State University*Jackson State University*Mississippi State University...
, 68pgs. ISBN 0-87805-954-7 - New Life: Stories and Photographs from the Suburban South by Alex Harris 249pgs. W. W. Horton, 1996 ISBN 0-393-04030-5 and ISBN 978-0-393-04030-2
External links
- Biography one short paragraph about Tulis at Art Worlds of Atlanta
- Buh-bye Boho: When bohemia meets middle age, it's fight or flight time. -Tulis's lifestyle (Cover Feature) by Feaster, Felicia
- A photography of Tulis attending Art Mondays at Apache Cafe, Atlanta, GeorgiaAtlanta, GeorgiaAtlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
- Art in Context Center for Communications, Carnegie Mellon UniversityCarnegie Mellon UniversityCarnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....
PittsburghPittsburgh, PennsylvaniaPittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, PennsylvaniaPennsylvaniaThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to... - Squidco, Tulis produced the photography for the 2005 album Not On Earth...In Your Soul!, also available in vinyl
- Corbett Griffith Performance Art "Ripe" 2004, Photography by Tulis
- 1998 Digital Americana Show, The Orlando Museum of ArtOrlando Museum of ArtThe Orlando Museum of Art is located at 2416 North Mills Avenue, Orlando, Florida. It houses local, regional, national and international works of art. The museum collections include a diverse range of pieces that cover a broad spectrum of subjects using a variety of artistic mediums.-Websites:* *....
Orlando, FloridaOrlando, FloridaOrlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
with Moebius Kid, Winners "Best Conceptual Advancement, Avatar as Content, 1999 - Photos Do Not Bend," Dallas, Texas sales of Tulis's works
- Oyster Boy Review #10 with examples to work by Tulis
- Tribe Photography by Tulis, 2005
- Art Worlds of Atlanta Ben Apfelbaum attribute to Tulis work
- Atlanta Contemporary Art Center Example of Tulis Graffiti Series, 2002