In 2019, a powerful tornado ripped through my Dallas neighborhood destroying everything in its path. Homes were literally reduced to splitters. Walking the neighborhood the next day was a deeply profound experience which sent me on a journey focused on the resiliency of the human spirit told through a series of metal wall sculptures the first of which were constructed from neighborhood debris.

While watching my neighbors rebuild their lives (many had lost everything), I also watch nature reclaim the scarred ground. I watched this same resiliency playing out all around me. Recently, I discovered something the explorer Meriwether Lewis (of Lewis and Clark fame) said about how each individuals soul “filters nature” creating a uniquely personal interpretation. I love this concept and I think it partially explains why nature is a powerful tonic. It seems the focus of all my current work, whether painting or sculpture, is resilience and rebirth. Nature will not be denied and I find beauty, comfort and inspiration in that truth.  This new series, “The Unknowable World” is an examination and celebration of this resilience and rebirth.

Tom Hoitsma

On October 20, 2019 a super charged tornado ripped through our suburban Dallas neighborhood. With winds up to 140 miles per hour, this tornado literally came down my street and destroyed most of the homes. We have all seen images of this kind of destruction in the media but to walk the neighborhood the next morning and see the destruction with my own eyes was completely surreal and deeply disturbing.

As usual, my eye kept settling on the sculptural beauty in some of the wreckage, especial the twisted metal. I collected some of these broken and bent objects and brought them to my studio to contemplate.

On our walk the morning after the tornado, my 12 year old daughter and I bumped into a couple standing in front of what was left of their home.  The roof was gone and only a few interior walls were still standing. The couple pointed to an interior white door (the exterior walls to that room were gone) and said, “Do you see that white door? We were all huddle behind that door with our two young daughters when the tornado ripped the roof off the house.” They had all survived without a scratch but I couldn’t help noticing an odd, almost joyful euphoria about them. They had survived against the odds and were somehow given a chance to rebuild.

That got me thinking. Humans are so resilient. We see this again and again from every corner of the world. Events in our lives can destroy our neighborhoods or break our hearts, but somehow we cannot be defeated. Like these sculptures, our hearts get bumped, bruised and battered but still remain full of hope and joy. We all emerge changed from tragic life events but most of us are able to dust ourselves off and find joy again. It became clear that this twisted metal was the perfect symbol. To take this material which had been so mangled by the tornado and create something new that was vibrant and beautiful was my new mission. This work, born of the tragedy and loss, is an examination of how we are able create joy from unimaginable loss, and the unstoppable resiliency of the human spirit.

The first few of these abstracted “heart shaped” metal wall sculptures were constructed from the debris I collected from my neighborhood but I soon realized the limitations of this metal. I now fabricate my own metals that mimic the original found debris.

Tom Hoitsma