Thomas Robert Mann (born 1947) is an American jewelry artist known primarily for his metalsmithing and assemblage techniques. Combining industrial-style metals with found trinkets and baubles, Mann has dubbed his style "Techno-Romantic" and runs Studio I/O in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he now lives and works.
Early life and education Mann was born in Northampton, Pennsylvania and raised in Allentown, Pennsylvania. His father was a machinist for Bethlehem Steel, an influence to which Mann credits his "fondness for machinery." While in high school, Mann experimented with jewelry-making and worked at a silversmith shop in Allentown. The jewelry he sold during his teen years helped fund his education at East Stroudsburg University, where he earned a degree in performing arts in 1970. In 1977, Mann began exhibiting at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and later established his home and studio in New Orleans in 1982.
Selected collections
Museum of Fine Arts, HoustonThomas Mann, "Big Link" Necklace, 1989, mixed media, Gift of Don and Rita Newman, MFAH 2014.275. https://www.mfah.org/art/detail/122043 Museum of Fine Arts, BostonThomas Mann, "Space Frame Neck Piece (Do you Believe in Luck?),1992, mixed media, The Daphne Farago Collection, MFAB 2006.345. https://collections.mfa.org/objects/458919/space-frame-neck-piece-do-you-believe-in-luck;jsessionid=A8C0B1B63F4EF2D7DC45F27F4E723692?ctx=ef8e18aa-cd33-4c08-bfea-8a80df18bdbb&idx=3Thomas Mann, "Memory Map" Collage Box with Brooch, 1992, mixed media, The Daphne Farago Collection, MFAB 2013.1712. https://collections.mfa.org/objects/475232/memory-map-collage-box-with-brooch;jsessionid=A8C0B1B63F4EF2D7DC45F27F4E723692?ctx=ef8e18aa-cd33-4c08-bfea-8a80df18bdbb&idx=4 Smithsonian American Art MuseumThomas Mann, 6 brooches, 1993, mixed media, Gifts of E. Lloyd Herman, founding director and director emeritus of the Renwick Gallery (1971-1986), SAAM 1997.71.1-6. https://americanart.si.edu/artist/thomas-mann-7291
References