Tom Nussbaum

Tom Nussbaum (born August 12, 1953, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American artist known for a variety of work including sculpture, drawings, paper cuts, prints, children’s books, animations, functional design objects, public art, and site-specific commissions. He maintains a studio at Manufacturer's Village in East Orange NJ and Burlington Flats NY.

Early life and career 'Listen', by Tom Nussbaum in 2007, 48 x 72 x 60", in the permanent collection of the Montclair Art Museum, Montclair NJ. Nussbaum was raised in Minneapolis, where he studied at the University of Minnesota. In 1980 he moved to New York City where he worked as a studio assistant to the artists Mimi Gross, Red Grooms and Suzan Pitt. In 1982 he started making art full-time.

Nussbaum's work has been exhibited at numerous galleries including the Phyllis Kind Gallery in New York, NY and Chicago, IL, the Delahunty and Barry Whistler galleries in Dallas, TX, the Robischon Gallery in Denver, CO, and the Metaphor Gallery in Brooklyn, NY.

His sculpture has been included in museum exhibitions at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, MN, the Laforet Museum, Tokyo, Japan, the Nicolayson Art Museum Casper, WY, the Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ, the Hunterdon Museum of Art, Clinton, NJ, the Anchorage Museum of History and Art, Anchorage, Alaska, The Contemporary Austin (Laguna Gloria Art Museum), Austin, Texas and the Wright Museum of Art, Beloit, Wisconsin. In 2003 the Montclair Art Museum commissioned Nussbaum to create "Home Sweet Home", a site-specific mural of abstracted geometric and folkloric motifs. Home Sweet Home was accompanied by a display of twenty of the artist's enigmatic, allegorical figures.

Nussbaum is also known for his design objects. In 1985 he began The Acme Robot Company, producing night-lights and light figures of his design. In 1988 he founded Atomic Iron Works, designing and producing iron hat and coat racks and other useful items, sold in museum shops such as The Whitney Museum of American Art, NY, NY, The Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX and The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. In 1992,New Jersey Transit Children's Universe/Rizzoli published his activity book, My World is Not Flat."

In 2025 Montclair Art Museum presented a comprehensive survey of Nussbaum's work in an exhibition called "Tom Nussbaum: But Wait, There's More!" on display from September 13, 2025, to January 4, 2026.

Public Art Installations 'Train Time' by Tom Nussbaum, NJTransit Bay Street Station, Montclair, NJ. Stainless steel. 2002. Tom Nussbaum has completed over 35 public art installations. In 1987 Nussbaum created a 10' x 72' 3D mural commissioned by the Hasbro Toy Company. In 1992, Nussbaum began creating public arts projects with a commission from the Metropolitan Transit Authority, Metro North Railroad, at the Scarsdale and Hartsdale stations Westchester County, NY. Since then, he has completed numerous public art works and private commissions, including projects for five stations, the New York City Public Schools, the Princeton Library, the Wildwoods NJ Convention Center, the All Children's Playground, Edgemont Memorial Park Montclair, NJ and the College of New Jersey.

Nussbaum has been commissioned by a number of hospitals including, the Mayo Clinic (2013) Rochester, MN, Johns Hopkins Hospital Charlotte Bloomberg Children's Center (2012) Baltimore, MD, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (1996) NY, NY and the St. Lukes Roosevelt Hospital (1995) NY, NY.

In 2013, Nussbaum completed the Albert E. Hinds Memorial Gateways in the center of Princeton, NJ. These stainless steel gateways incorporate images from the history of American quilts, and commemorate the life of Albert E. Hinds, and the history of the African-American experience in Princeton.

Awards The NJ State Council on the Arts awarded Nussbaum an Individual Artist Fellowship in 2001 and in 2009. He was a 2008 fellow at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and was a MacDowell Colony fellow in 2005, 2006, and 2007.

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