How can I buy a work by Thomas Sleet?

Bruno David Gallery represents Thomas Sleet and handles the sale of available works. For prices and availability, email info@brunodavidgallery.com or call +1 314 696 2377.

Where can I see work by Thomas Sleet in person?

At Bruno David Gallery, 7513 Forsyth Boulevard, Saint Louis, Missouri 63105, during public hours or by appointment. Collections that hold his work include the Saint Louis Art Museum, which acquired his work in 2020, Washington University in St. Louis, and Saint Louis University.

What does Thomas Sleet make?

Thomas Sleet makes sculptures and assemblages from recycled and reclaimed materials, including wood, cement, ground red brick, carpet, charred elements, and mirror. The forms often suggest vessels, shells, crucibles, arks, altars, temples, and portals.

Where did Thomas Sleet study?

He received a B.F.A. in ceramics and sculpture from Washington University in St. Louis in 1988 and a B.A. from Columbus College of Art and Design in Columbus, Ohio, in 1974.

Which exhibitions has Thomas Sleet had at Bruno David Gallery?

Solo exhibitions include Down River: Prayer is Verb and I : Seat of Integrity (both September 4 to October 31, 2026), Integration: Sacred Space (2019), Volcanoa in the Window on Forsyth (2019), Modem: Topology (2014) and Thomas Sleet: Traces (2007). He has also shown in the gallery's group exhibitions, including OVERVIEW_2024, Visual Dialogue (2023) and AND / OR (2016).

Are there catalogues of Thomas Sleet's work?

Yes. Bruno David Gallery published Integration: Sacred Space (2019), Modem: Topology (2014, with an essay by David Lobbig) and Traces (2008). All three can be read as e-books in the gallery's Publications library at brunodavidgallery.com/publications.

Has Thomas Sleet made public or site-specific work?

Yes. His site-specific sculpture River Ark was shown at the Audubon Center at Riverlands in West Alton from 2022 to 2024, and in 1998 he designed and built the Phyllis Wheatley Society Monument for the YWCA of Greater St. Louis, with a cold-cast bronze relief portrait of Phyllis Wheatley.

Which awards has Thomas Sleet received?

Awards include the Henry O. Tanner Award from Portfolio Gallery (1998) and first place in Portfolio Gallery's Visions '96 and Visions '97 exhibitions.

Thomas Sleet

Thomas Sleet (born 1956, St. Louis) is an American sculptor based in St. Louis who builds assemblages from reclaimed wood, cement, ground red brick, and mirror, drawing on the natural formations of creeks, streams, and rivers.

In this current body of work, Thomas Sleet continues an investigation into the structural dynamics of repeating forms and the interrelationships between resultant internal and external spaces. The evidence provided by these experiments evokes natural structure, synthetic assembly and the possibilities of interface between. This work is inspired by methods of building found in nature; “I get inspiration from natural formations of earth, rock, and debris typically found along creeks, streams, and rivers.” The materials Sleet employs: cement, wood, ground red brick, carpet and mirror – echo the colors, textures and surfaces of these natural topographies.

Sleet works primarily with recycled and reclaimed materials, and does so because there is a story or history inherent in these objects– like a spirit. Working with these material histories, [spirits] enables the artist to articulate concepts and principles that transcend specific composition, material bias and scale. Shape and form evoke function and includes both positive and negative form function. Meaning that the positive form can serve as vessel, shell, solid or fluid and the surface can even be permeable: Effigy, shrine, vestibule, crucible, reservoir, altar, vessel, obelisk, and portal. Thomas Sleet attended Columbus College of Art and Design and Washington University in St. Louis - Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts, where he received his B.F.A.

Born 1956, St. Louis, Missouri. Lives and works in St. Louis. B.F.A., Washington University in St. Louis, 1988; B.A., Columbus College of Art and Design, 1974. Represented by Bruno David Gallery, Saint Louis.

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