gail spahr and tom corbin

"I was born in Chicago and moved to the Kansas City area when I was four years old.  Some of my earliest memories are always of drawing and coloring on whatever I could find. Most times my abstract art was not always appreciated probably because of the chosen surfaces. I always knew I wanted to be an artist."

Gail worked for Hallmark for twenty-seven years and is now retired, focusing on her own art. She has recently starting combining painting and collage in various assemblages. This is the first year she has taken part in the doll project.

Tom Corbin’s introduction and subsequent career in sculpture has been based more on serendipity than calculation. Born in Dayton, Ohio in 1954, Tom’s early fascination in art was inspired by his mother, an art teacher by trade. Despite studying painting and drawing at Miami University, Tom’s original career pursuit was Business as an advertising executive. Tom’s first brush with the third dimension came in a chance meeting with a bronze sculptor in 1982. Classes with this sculptor led to a deepened interest in bronze casting and thoughts of a career in art. In 1986, Tom left the secure confines of his advertising agency job for the unpredictability of life as a full time sculptor.

Tom landed his first major public commission in 1988. Additional commissions followed, along with the financial freedom for Tom to develop his own “speculative” sculpture. During this period, Tom was also experimenting with furniture design, an area that would soon play a major role in the growth of his studio operation.

Today, Tom’s work appears in 22 showrooms and galleries internationally. Individual collectors include Mr. and Mrs. Tom Hanks, Nicole Kidman, Danielle Steel and the late Frank Sinatra. Public installation sites include the United Nations, The Kauffman Foundation, the Firefighter’s Memorial, the Children’s Fountain, University of Oregon and Florida State University. In addition to important public and private collections, his work has found its way onto the sets of some major motion pictures, among them True Lies, A Perfect Murder, It’s Complicated and Transformers.