A self portrait of California leather artist Tom Banwell
About Tom Banwell
I have no formal art training, and am largely self-taught. As a child I was fascinated with helmets and other hats, and I collected them. My love affair with leather began in 1972 when I got a job at Lake Tahoe making belts, purses and sandals. Four years later I started a business designing and making men’s Western leather hats which sold all over the United States. After selling that business I dabbled in woodcarving for a number of years which led eventually to learning how to cast in resin.
My business than became casting custom resin trophies and figurines, which I did for many years, and much of that work consisted of imitating other materials: bronze, marble, wood, etc. In 2008 I discovered leather maskmaking, and that has been my passion—and my business—ever since.
At the end of 2020, after a very busy year making and selling plague doctor masks to fulfill the sudden interest in the plague due to the Covid-19 pandemic, I retired and handed off the business to my son Erin. I am now enjoying the slower pace of doing leatherwork just for fun.
I am happily married to Jill, and have four grown children and seven young grandchildren.
Resume
Exhibitions
Oct 2009 – Feb 2010
Steampunk
Museum of the History of Science
Oxford University, Oxford, UK
Oct 2011 – Feb 2012
Steampunk: History Beyond Imagination
The Muzeo
Anaheim, California, USA
Jun 2012—October 2012
Time Machines: Robots, Rockets, and Steampunk
Shelburne Museum
Shelburne, Vermont, USA
Jun 2013—July 2013
Fetishism in Fashion
Mode Biënnale Arnhem
MoBA, Arnhem, Netherlands
March 2014—May 2014
Steampunk Art
Hangaram Design Museum
Seoul Art Center
Seoul, Korea
June 2014—July 2014
Masked Machinations, a solo exhibition
Idea Fabrication Laboratory
Chico, California, USA
Sept 2014—Feb 2015
Steampunk Art Exhibition
751 D-Park, Beijing, China
K11 Art Mall, Shanghai, China
March 2015--Jan 2015
Fetishism
Edelkoort Exhibitions
Trapholt Museum
Kolding, Denmark
Sept 2017--Nov 2017
Odd Beauty
Southampton Art Center Museum
Southampton, New York, USA
Publications
Steampunk! L’esthéque Rétro-FuturÉtienne Barillier
La Bibliothèque Des Miroirs, 2010
The Steampunk Bible: An Illustrated Guide to the World of Imaginary Airships, Corsets and Goggles, Mad Scientists, and Strange Literature
Jeff VanderMeer and S. J. Chambers
Abrams Image, 2011
The Art of Steampunk
Art Donovan
Fox Chapel Publishing, 2011
1000 Steampunk Creations
Dr. Grymm
Quarry Publishers, 2011
Steampunk: The Art of Victorian Futurism
Jay Strongman
Korero Books, UK 2011
Steampunk: An Illustrated History of Fantastical Fiction, Fanciful Film and Other Victorian Visions
Brian J. Robb
Voyageur Press, 2012
Steampunk Fashion
Spurgeon Vaughn Ratcliffe
Graffito Books, Ltd, London, 2012
Steampunk Oriental Laboratory 2
Shaoko Hyakutake, editor
Graphic-Sha Publishing Co, Tokyo, 2012
Anatomy of Steampunk: The Fashion of Victorian Futurism
Katherine Gleason
Race Point Publishing
Quayside Publishing Group, 2013
Masks of the World
Robert Ibold & Troy Yohn
Robert Ibold publisher, 2015
The Art of Steampunk
Hiro Wang, editor
Dopress Books
Shenyang, China, 2016