Clark uses real characters as the basis for the imaginary gnome personalities. The gnomes in the 1989 exhibition were D.G., The Conductor, Ney, Chalmers, and D.C., all wonderful examples of how Dr. Little Library which inspired locals greatly. In addition to that he organized ‘gnome’ exhibitions at the Davidson College E.H. Clark helped spread the name of Davidson College with his line of figurines sold in Japan, Great Britain, Europe, and over 5000 stores in the States. He happened to come across the Dutch book during the summer of 1978 where he was a storyteller for a boy’s camp.ĭr. What really inspired him to sculpture gnomes were drawings in the 1976 bestselling book Gnomes by Wil Huygen and Rien Poortvliet. They’re not just coming to see me because they’ve run out of the permitted class absences for the quarter,” Dr. For me, it is very satisfying to have people come into my Davidson shop or into a dealer’s and pick out a statue because they like it. “I am a creative person, and sometimes creative people like me don’t fit in well in structured organizations like college. Clark left Davidson College in 1985 to devote his time to the Gnome business with Cairn Studio. Clark, who eventually became an associate professor, doesn’t have time to dig his own clay anymore because his sculpture has led him from what was ‘Nothing but a hobby’ to what is now ‘a big business,’ he said.” -Connie McLean ’80ĭr. In 1958 Clark had just come to Davidson as an assistant professor of religion. “When Professor Tom Clark ’49 began sculpturing more than 40 years ago, he dug clay from the creek in the middle of Patterson Fraternity Court on the north side of Davidson’s campus. “We had so much fun sculpting our professor’s heads,” I was told students used to say. They would sculpt the heads of different faculty on campus.
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Clark would set up sculpting activities where he would teach students how to sculpt a bust. Clark’s class Christianity & Art, he made the class very interesting as he had a dry sense of humor…I loved the class so much that I never wanted to miss one” Kathy Bray-Merrell Class of ’85 Associate Dean of Students.ĭuring the Winter Session in his teaching years at Davidson, Dr. In fact, there was a heavy student demand for the classes. Clark’s intelligence, sense of humor and ability to talk about deep things in a light, humorous way made his Religion and Art class one of the most popular classes.
He was nicknamed T-Bird Tommy for the Ford Thunderbird he drove. Clark became a member of the faculty in 1958 and taught “Religious Art” at Davidson College for twenty six years. I can’t take a walk without pruning the trail, and I can’t enter a home without commenting on the decorations.” Dr. “My friends all know that I am an indefatigable artist. Tom Clark who had to go to night school to learn art as Davidson College back then did not have a Fine Arts Department. “I used to sit sketching in my notebook in classes while other people were writing what I should have been writing,” recalls Dr.
As a matter of fact he was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award at Davidson College in 1989, exactly forty years after his father had received his. Clark’s father went to Davidson, as did other family members. Religion played an important role in what he taught and the gnomes which he eventually sculpted to cast a magic spell over the country’s collectibles market. Before becoming a professor at Davidson College, he served briefly as a missionary in the Appalachian Mountains. He also trained in sculpture at Roberts School of Art in Aberdeen, the Museum School of Art in Boston Massachusetts, and at City and Guilds of London School of Art. in Theology from University of Aberdeen in Scotland. He continued his education receiving a Bachelor’s in Divinity from Union Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. Thomas Fetzer Clark a native of Elizabethtown, North Carolina, graduated from Davidson College in 1949 with a degree in English.
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