John Regis Tuska (1931

Yukon, Pennsylvania Yukon is a census-designated place located in South Huntingdon Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, South Huntingdon Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, Westmoreland County in the state of Pennsylvania, United States. The communi ...

–1998) was an American artist and educator who was a professor at the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...

. He was best known as a

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

and

potter A potter is someone who makes pottery. Potter may also refer to: Places United States *Potter, originally a section on the Alaska Railroad, currently a neighborhood of Anchorage, Alaska, US * Potter, Arkansas *Potter, Nebraska * Potters, New Je ...

, but also as a

draftsman A drafter (also draughtsman / draughtswoman in British and Commonwealth English, draftsman / draftswoman or drafting technician in American and Canadian English) is an engineering technician who makes detailed technical drawings or plans for m ...

, painter, designer and photographer.

Early life and education

Born in Yukon, Pennsylvania, Tuska was the eighth of ten children and the only son of a Slovakian immigrant coal miner . When Tuska was age six, his family moved to New York City . Tuska graduated from an alternative high school for the arts and worked

proofreading Proofreading is the reading of a galley proof or an electronic copy of a publication to find and correct reproduction errors of text or art. Proofreading is the final step in the editorial cycle before publication. Professional Traditional ...

Collier's Encyclopedia ''Collier's Encyclopedia'' is a discontinued general encyclopedia first published in 1949 by P. F. Collier and Son in the United States. With ''Encyclopedia Americana'' and ''Encyclopædia Britannica, Collier's Encyclopedia'' became one of the th ...

for 25 cents a day. He took many visits to the

Brooklyn Public Library The Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) is the public library system of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is the sixteenth largest public library system in the United States by holding and the seventh by number of visitors. Like the two othe ...

. Tuska was educated at the

New York State College of Ceramics The New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University (NYSCC) is a statutory college of the State University of New York located on the campus of Alfred University, Alfred, New York. There are a total of 616 students, including 536 undergradu ...

Alfred University Alfred University is a private university in Alfred (village), New York, Alfred, New York. It has a total undergraduate population of approximately 1,600 students. The university hosts the New York State College of Ceramics, which includes The ...

. Lexington Man Takes Father, Artist John Tuska, Home to Brooklyn, NY
Retrieved on 20 Feb 2018 After graduating he moved to

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

for a teaching job at the

Murray State University Murray State University (MSU) is a public university in Murray, Kentucky. In addition to the main campus in Calloway County in southwestern Kentucky, Murray State operates extended campuses offering upper level and graduate courses in Paducah, H ...

. After three years, Tuska moved to University of Kentucky, where he lectured for over 30 years. Tuska continued to create and teach until his death in 1998.

Creative work

Tuska's body of work can be found in collections and public spaces, both regionally and internationally. He created thousands of pieces of art including drawing,

collage Collage (, from the french: coller, "to glue" or "to stick together";) is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole. ...

, ceramics and papier-mache.Artist John Tuska's son sees spa industry as venue for popularizing his late father's work
Retrieved on 20 Feb 2018 His last major work was ''Illumine'', a "series of 56 bronze figures celebrating individual human expression that are mounted on the façade of UK's Fine Arts Building". He was working on it for 10 years - from 1985 to 1995. Other works include Study of 4 Squares mixed media on paper.
Retrieved on 20 Feb 2018

Legacy

After Tuska's death, his son Seth created Tuska Studio to produce works' process and to show Tuska projects' technique.

Personal life

Tuska met his wife Miriam at Alfred: the couple had two sons Seth and Stephen. In 1975 the family bought a Victorian house at Old Park Avenue in Lexington, this house is now the Tuska Museum and Gallery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tuska, John 1931 births 1998 deaths University of Kentucky faculty 20th-century American sculptors 20th-century American male artists American male sculptors