Artist

Thomas Loeser

born Boston, MA 1956
Media - portrait_image_113737.jpg - 90408
Courtesy Tom Loeser.
Also known as
  • Tom Loeser
Born
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Active in
  • Madison, Wisconsin, United States
Nationalities
  • American
Biography

Tom Loeser has spent his career creating furniture that works like puzzles. His chests and wall cabinets invite us to open the drawers and to figure out how the pieces work. The carved and painted surfaces lead the eye in different directions, creating an optical experience that goes beyond the simple form of the piece. Loeser was trained to be a skilled craftsman, but he prefers to create furniture that is more playful than impressive, offering his viewers a chance to check their "furniture reflexes."

Exhibitions

Quilt featuring the portrait of a woman
This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World
May 13, 2022–April 2, 2023
Renwick Gallery
This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World showcases the dynamic landscape of American craft today. The exhibition highlights the role that artists play in our world to spark essential conversations, stories of resilience, and methods of activism—showing us a more relational and empathetic world. It centers more expansive definitions and acknowledgments of often-overlooked histories and contributions of women, people of color, and other marginalized communities.

Related Books

Six duotone book covers are show with "This Present Moment" in black text
This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World
This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World showcases American craft like never before. Accompanying a 2022 exhibition of the same name, it features artists’ stories of resilience, methods of activism, and highlights craft’s ability to spark essential conversations about race, gender, and representation. This book marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery, the nation’s preeminent center for the enjoyment of American craft. It honors the history of the American studio craft movement while also introducing progressive contemporary narratives.