Tom Swanston

Thomas Swanston was born in 1956 in the Naval Hospital at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis MD. USA. Currently living in a cottage on a small lake with his wife, the artist Gail Foster, he works daily in their renovated Masonic Lodge, 30 minutes from Hartsfield Jackson airport, Atlanta, Georgia.

Thomas graduated from Hobart & William Smith Colleges in 1978 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, participating in the first H&WS Study Abroad in London and at the New York Studio School, New York, New York. Swanston matriculated from Parsons School of Design in 1980, one of only twelve of the first Master of Fine Arts Diplomas Parsons offered.

Exhibiting continuously for the past 40 years, in non-profit and for-profit venues, in Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Houston, New Orleans, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Santa Fe and with Fine Art consultants across the country. Thomas has had 24 solo, over 75 group exhibitions and included in 8 museum exhibitions. With two hardcover exhibition catalogs, Thomas has also been featured in over 55 lifestyles and industry magazines. His art work can be found in public and private collections across the US, in Canada, China, France, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Taiwan, Turkey, and the Caribbean.

Active in the broader arts community: Thomas served on the Board of Trustees of the Alliance of Artist Communities, the national service organization which advocates for creative environments that support the work of today’s artists. Thomas is the founder of AIR Serenbe, a nationally recognized artist residency program which engaged Rural Studio to design /build the first 20K live work residences outside the Auburn University environment. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Serenbe Institute for Arts and Culture.