Thomas Tulis (born 1961) is an American

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographers As in other ...

and painter living and working in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

Life and work

Tulis was born in

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020 ...

. After a couple of years of college, he joined the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

. After the army he put all of his time and efforts into his art. In 1985 he was able to open his first studio and that same year had his first exhibition. He lives a very simple life. In 1997, Tulis was Artist in Residence at '' Pouch Cove Foundation'', a self-sustaining,

not for profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

art retreat near St. John's, Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Group exhibitions

*Tulis exhibited in the experimental art space ''Neo-Post-Now Gallery'' in Manitowoc, Wisconsin from 1992 to 1997. *''The South by its Photographers'',

Birmingham Museum of Art The Birmingham Museum of Art is a museum in Birmingham, Alabama. It has one of the most extensive collections of artwork in the Southeastern United States, with more than 24,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and decorative arts repres ...

, Birmingham, Alabama;

Columbia Museum of Art The Columbia Museum of Art is an art museum in the American city of Columbia, South Carolina. History The Columbia Museum of Art was originally in the 1908 private residence of the city's Taylor family. Located on Senate Street in Columbia, adj ...

, Columbia, South Carolina; Louisiana Center for Arts and Sciences, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Curated by Ellen Fleurov. With work by various Southern artists including Tulis, Shelby Lee Adams, Walter Beckham, Debbie Fleming Caffery,

William Christenberry William Andrew Christenberry Jr. (November 5, 1936 – November 28, 2016) was an American photographer, painter, sculptor, and teacher who drew inspiration from his childhood in Hale County, Alabama. Christenberry focused extensively on architec ...

, Chip Cooper, William Greiner, Birney Imes, Melissa Springer and others. This exhibition was also made into a book by Susan Sipple Elliott, with an introduction by John E. Schloder. *''House: Ten Artists Photograph Domestic Architecture'', Athens Institute for Contemporary Art, 2002. With work by Tulis, Evie McKenna, Rinnie Allen,

Michael Stipe John Michael Stipe (; born January 4, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter and artist, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of alternative rock band R.E.M. He is known for his vocal quality, poetic lyrics and unique stage presence. Pos ...

, Carl Martin, and

Mark Steinmetz Mark Christopher Steinmetz (born 1961) is an American photographer. He makes black and white photographs "of ordinary people in the ordinary landscapes they inhabit". Steinmetz's work was shown in a group exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, ...

. Curated by Carol John. *''Wait Until Dark'',

Williams College Museum of Art The Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) is a college-affiliated art museum in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It is located on the campus of Williams College, and is close to the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) and the Clark Ar ...

, Fresno, California, 2003. With work by Tulis,

Lewis Baltz Lewis "Duke" Baltz (September 12, 1945 – November 22, 2014) was an American visual artist, photographer, and educator. He was an important figure in the New Topographics movement of the late 1970s.

, Harvey Caplin,

Todd Hido Todd Hido (born 25 August 1968) is an American photographer. He has produced 17 books, had his work exhibited widely and included in various public collections. Hido is currently an adjunct professor at the California College of the Arts in San F ...

, David Leventhal, William Greiner, Michael Kenna, O. Winston Link,

Richard Misrach Richard Misrach (born 1949) is an American photographer. He has photographed the deserts of the American West, and pursued projects that document the changes in the natural environment that have been wrought by various man-made factors such as ...

, Jules Shulman,

George Tice George A. Tice (born 1938) is an American photographer. His work depicts a broad range of American life, landscape, and urban environment, mostly photographed in his native New Jersey. He has lived all his life in New Jersey, except for his serv ...

and Henry Wessel, Jr. selected from the photography collection of Jay Richard DiBiaso. *''So Atlanta: Artists Respond to the Contemporary City'', 2004. With work by Tulis, Karen Rich Beall, Sarah Doughrety, Samm Hill,

Ron Jude Ron A. Jude (born 1965) is an American photographer and educator, living in Eugene, Oregon. His photography, which "often explores the relationship between people, place, nature and memory", has been published in a number of books. Jude works as a ...

, Ohm Phanphiroj and others. Curated by Felicia Feaster and Helena Reckitt. *'' The Contemporary'', Atlanta.

Collections

Tulis' work is held in the following permanent collections: *

Brooklyn Museum of Art The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Cro ...

, Brooklyn, NY *

High Museum of Art The High Museum of Art (colloquially the High) is the largest museum for visual art in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta, Georgia (on Peachtree Street in Midtown, the city's arts district), the High is 312,000 square feet (28, ...

, Atlanta, GA *

Indianapolis Museum of Art The Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) is an encyclopedic art museum located at Newfields, a campus that also houses Lilly House, The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park: 100 Acres, the Gardens at Newfields, the Beer Garden, and more. It ...

, Indianapolis, Indiana, IN: 3 prints (as of 24 April 2022) * Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX: 1 print (as of 24 April 2022)

Quotes

"Two hundred and fifty images laid before me and I was enthralled. They were perfect. I wished I used more of them. The photography brought a sense of presence, of immediacy and of realism to a space that I knew would soon be awash in metaphors within a visionary frame." – Steven GuynupBlake and Virtuality: An Exchange with Adam Komisaruk, Steven Guynup and Fred Yee.
rc.umd.edu.

Publications

by Susan Sipple Elliott.

University Press of Mississippi The University Press of Mississippi, founded in 1970, is a publisher that is sponsored by the eight state universities in Mississippi. Universities *Alcorn State University *Delta State University * Jackson State University *Mississippi State U ...

, 1996. . Photographs by 48 Southern photographers. 68pgs. With an introduction by John E. Schloder. *''New Life: Stories and Photographs from the Suburban South''. By Alex Harris. W. W. Horton, 1996. . 249pgs.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tulis, Thomas 1961 births Living people United States Army soldiers Photographers from Tennessee Photographers from Georgia (U.S. state) Industrial photographers