Rebecca Tobey
| Rebecca Tobey | |
|---|---|
 "Path Finder" by Rebecca and Gene Tobey | |
| Born |
1948 Mason, Texas, Texas, USA |
| Nationality | US Citizen |
| Occupation | Cermic artists of animal sculptures |
Rebecca Tobey is an American artist based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Her genre includes animal sculptures made of ceramics, brass and patinas in both forms of modern and abstract art.[1] She, along with her husband, Gene Tobey, created for many decades animal forms which give an insight into the "ancient rock art and fetishes blended with modern design with sculptural solidity."[2] The animal forms created were inspired by the mythology of the Native Americans.[3]
About the joint efforts in creating ceramics art work with her husband, Tobey stated "We draw, carve, scratch, and paint on the surfaces. The piece takes on a second personality."[2] Her art works have been commissioned by both Government and private institutions and exhibited international centers.[4]
Early life
Tobey was born in 1948 in Mason, Texas.[1] Right from childhood she had fascination for animals and nature. She and her siblings spent their summer holidays at a resort on Watts Bar Lake in Tennessee, and would watch and imitate the calls of mourning doves and bobwhite quail, trap snakes, and copying the life of Huckleberry Finn.
She studied at the Rogers Hall School, a boarding school in Lowell, Maryland where her teachers had told her that she did not have adequate talent to become an artist.
Move to Santa Fe
After living and working in New York, a 1975 serendipitous stopover in Santa Fe, New Mexico, inspired her to spontaneously uproot her life and move to the southwest city. There she worked as the director of a Santa Fe art gallery and met Gene Tobey who had held an exhibition of his art work on raku pottery.[4] They then started working together as a team in art work. Initially the material they worked with was ceramics and subsequently, from the later part of 1990s, started with other mediums such as bronze and patina.[4][1] The first sculpture which Rebecca and her husband created was in 1997, which was named Wind River at the Western State College, Gunnison, Colorado, where their children were studying. The second sculpture was a large curved buffalo named "The Tobey Buffalo". Wandering Star was another of their creation sculpted in 1992 which has on one side carving of "southwestern dragon" carved onto the side. Another bufflo which they carved in bronze was of a smaller size and was named the Rising Star.
She started working, based on her conceptual thinking and pictures, creating sculptures in three dimensional mode. Her animal sculptures are creations with overlaid features which are unique and reveal something new to every viewer. Some of her ceramic sculptures have graffiti inscribed on them and with perforations on them which "create interesting compositions using negative space."[5] With her husband she created many sculptures of which the 15 ft sculpture of bear called the "Spirit Walker" made of bronze was exhibited and donated in 2000 to the Law School of Baylor University; it has sketches on the history of Waco, inscribed on its surface.[1][4] Her sculpture of a 5 ft tall bronze grizzly bear called the "Pathfinder" is on display at the Western State College in Gunnison, Colorado, which is considered a lucky charm by students who kiss the statue before taking an examination.[4]
One of Tobey's notable work, which was auctioned for the Cancer Foundation for New Mexico, which she supports, is a "prong-horned antelope with hand prints and eagles in flight".[6]
Personal life
Rebecca and Gene Tobey married in 1985 and together they had five children. Gene died in 2006.[7]
Works by Gene and Rebecca Tobey
Art
Partial listing:
- American Bear
- Apache
- Cherokee
- Dakota
- Dine' - The People
- Earthbound
- Eclipse of the Sun
- Freedom
- Friends in a Storm
- Keeper of the Trust
- Kiowa
- Maasai II Moran
- Monica's Vision
- Pathfinder
- Spirit Guardian
- Wind River
- Zuni
Books
- Tobey, Gene; Tobey, Rebecca (2007). Partners in Art: Gene and Rebecca Tobey. Albuquerque, NM: Fresco Fine Art Publications. ISBN 9781934491027.
References
- 1 2 3 4 "Rebecca Tobey". askART. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
- 1 2 "Gene (d.) And Rebecca Tobey". Bighorngalleries.com. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
- ↑ "Cermaics". Rebecca Tobey. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Rebecca Tobey". Ventana Fine Art. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
- ↑ "Rebecca Tobey". Westernmuseum Organization. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
- ↑ "The Whole World’s In His Hands”, Ceramic Antelope by Rebecca Tobey". Cancer Foundation for New Mexico. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
- ↑ Carstens, Rosemary (July 1, 2012). "Jami Tobey". Southwest Art – via Questia (subscription required) (F&W Publications, Inc.) 42 (2): 38. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
External links
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