Toby Gordon

Toby Gordon has been making drawings, paintings, photographs, prints, and furniture for most of his life. He graduated from Oberlin College in 1982 with a B.A. in Art History and Studio Art, then moved to New York City where he worked with artists as a papermaking technician at Exeter Press. A year later he relocated to Minneapolis where he continued studying printmaking and worked as an assistant to master printer John Slivon. During this time Gordon began making woodcut illustrations for Coffee House Press and the Hungry Mind Review. Since 1989 he has worked for a variety of non-profits while continuing to explore printmaking, photography, and furniture making.

Toby has been influenced by a great many artists from Rembrandt to the Cape Dorset printmakers to Alison Saar and many, many others. His work often begins with careful observation before moving into abstraction. He sees art-making as a process of exploration that incorporates discipline, personal history, and a search for language and connection.