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Art, Tech, and Everyday Lives
Written By: Billy Love, The Bascom | Issue: Winter 2025
Thomas Schram brings his talent and his vision to The Bascom as its 2024-2025 Winter Resident Artist.
This winter, The Bascom is thrilled to welcome Thomas Schram as its 2024-2025 Winter Resident Artist.
With a unique studio practice rooted in the dynamic conversations between people, places, and materials, Schram is known for his innovative exploration across various mediums – object making, interactive installations, video, and sound. His work delves into the intersection of technology with our everyday lives, examining how it sometimes enhances, yet often clashes with, our ability to truly engage with the physical and social landscapes that surround us.
Schram’s most recent focus has centered on the consumption and waste culture that pervades modern society. He is particularly interested in the industrial processes that transform raw natural resources into the endless array of consumables we encounter daily, while questioning how we perceive these items as though they carry little cost.
Through this, Schram invites his audience to consider the hidden consequences of the world around us.
In his upcoming installation at The Bascom, Schram plans to blend found objects with self-shot and repurposed footage, creating an experience that is as tactile as it is atmospheric.
As he reflects:
“Lately, my thoughts have been consumed by rivers, especially as I process the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene. I find myself thinking about the old logging practices, how rivers and streams were once used to transport timber, how splash dams were built, and how the logs would leave their mark on the banks as they floated downstream. The scars left by the storm, like those from past industries, seem to speak of a shared history of destruction and renewal.”
Schram’s work will confront this poignant intersection of the past and present, offering a space for both artist and viewer to process the weight of loss and transformation. During his residency, he hopes to channel his emotions into a powerful reflection of our collective experience.
Thomas Schram is an Asheville-based artist and educator currently serving as the Visiting Assistant Professor of Sculpture at Western Carolina University. He earned his MFA in sculpture from Clemson University and his BFA in Painting from the University of North Carolina – Asheville.
This exhibition opens January 18.
