About Us

I’m Tom Mather and I take most of the responsibility for this gallery and this blog.

Most of the time span described below paralleled a professional career in electronics and quality control initially as a technician and later in middle management and finally as a Substance Abuse Counselor. Life in small business manufacturing and quality control middle management is tenuous. I found long periods of “laid off” time when income came from “side jobs” and my artistry.

 My life as an artist started as an outgrowth from my personal development. During my late adolescence a friend commented that I was emotionally and socially retarded. I didn’t think so but my wife agreed and I wanted to be a good husband and father. I started my long journey of personal development, which continues today. I learned many things but the one that’s important here is that I am very creative person.

My understanding of myself grew and my desire to express myself also grew. I looked around for classes that seemed interesting and in 1980 I found a beginner’s stained glass class at the local Technical School and signed up. I learned the art and found that I was pretty good at it and I enjoyed it. We soon didn’t have any empty windows in the house and in around 1985; I started to take the things I made “on the road”. Initially my focus was on doing small local shows that did not require large vendor fees.

 Shortly after that I decided to make a “walking stick” for myself. I started to strip the bark off the stick with care not to cut the wood. I also embellished the stick by imbedding semi-precious stones in it. I found the result to be beautiful and soon had enough to take to shows along with the stained glass. The number of shows increased and around 1988 I established a company. I didn’t know what to call it but my son Jason did, without hesitation he suggested “Sticks & Stones” and so it was.

 Life went on and I experimented with other materials and used the materials that I was familiar with in new ways. I still use the new skills and interests that I tried including an intensive study of stones, some lapidary work, making lampwork beads and making simple jewelry.

 

In 1995 my interest in history and Native American culture brought me to events called Rendezvous. Rendezvous were advertised to be reenactments of the rendezvous held by mountain men and trappers during the American Fur Trade period. It could be argued that the start of this period was around 1650 but the typical Fur Trade Reenactor focused on the period of around 1800 to 1840. There are quite a few of these events throughout the country with varying degrees of authenticity but all of them are fun in their own way. I quickly found that I hade become very “bad” at “sit still”. I tried throwing tomahawks and knives but that got old for me. Unfortunately none of the things that I did at the time were appropriate for a historical camp, no matter how tenuous the authenticity. So, following my usual “MO”, I looked around for something interesting. I decided to make lithic cutting tools, yup arrow heads. I began by studying how it should work and then tried it out and tried again and tried yet again but couldn’t get the hang of it. Then while hanging at the end of my rope (with an appropriate knot to keep from slipping off), in 1998, I found a weekend class in Eau Claire, WI in learning to make lithic cutting tools, the art of “knapping”. I asked Jason if he was interested, he said yes if I paid the fee, and we were off on a father/son weekend to learn to knapp. Rendezvous soon became the “event of choice” and my skills at demonstrating the art of knapping was sought after, sometimes actually getting paid to camp (bonus) and demonstrate to school kids.

Then in late 2011 I retired from my professional careers and started my life as an old retired artist. I quickly found out that I wanted to do more than camping events and we started to do camping events and specialty events. Sticks & Stones grew and that’s when the idea of the gallery became real and work began on it. Sticks & Stones became Sticks & Stones Studios, LLC and is under the umbrella of the Tornado Tavern Gallery, LLC.

Greetings folks, I’m Mary Silver, Tom’s wife and the other half of the Tornado Tavern Gallery partnership.

 An interest in the fiber arts came to me early in life.  My mother taught me to knit when I was 8 and the world of sticks and strings was open to me.  A short time later my grandmother taught me to crochet.  I still have a few of the very early pieces that were clothes and blankets for my Barbie dolls.  Teen years were spent designing my own clothes and jewelry; then followed the booties and baby blankets as my children came along.

In 1993 my father gave me a gift that opened many more avenues in my fiber life – a spinning wheel – what an amazing tool this is!!!  Learning to spin yarn on an old wheel was quite a challenge, but it introduced me to some of the most wonderful people in my life.  The folks in the Fox Valley Spinning Guild were encouraging and helpful along the way to learning this “new” old craft.   Like the Spinning Bees of olden times we would gather together with our wheels and wool or other fibers and spend hours making new and interesting yarn.  Often our gatherings would be part of local art fairs where we would share our interest with others and have our circle grow.

 We would also demonstrate at history events spending days and nights re-creating much earlier times when our wheels were actually some of the most advanced technology of the time. 

People who enjoy re-enacting are a varied and interesting group and it has been a delight to meet and become friends with so many of them.  Tom was one of the people we met at an encampment.  He was a “camp dog”, coming around to share meals with us and entertain the ladies with songs and stories.  We enjoyed sharing morning coffee with him and singing around the campfire at night.  That this new friend would eventually become my life partner is something for which I will be forever grateful to the gods.  Now Tom and I spend many weekends during the summer demonstrating at historic and art events throughout Wisconsin. 

My interest in fiber has expanded to coloring those fibers and learning to dye as our ancestors did with the plants and minerals that were available long before Rit dye was invented.  With my cast iron kettle and enamel pots I can create all the colors of the rainbow.  Silk, wool, cotton, wood – whatever someone would like to throw into the pot at camp.  Magic or mad science?  It’s always fun to see what happens each time the fire is lit.

Next to my spinning wheels, kettles, sticks and string, my favorite tool is an antique sock knitting machine.  The one I have was made in 1904 and still cranks out socks like it was new.  Cranky Socks I call them, cause you turn the crank a few times and there’s a new pair of socks.  That’s a big change from going around and around on the sticks for hours and hours.  Ain’t technology grand??

I look forward to the chance to share the new and old technology with you when you come to visit us at the Tornado Tavern Gallery.  See you Soon!!