About the Artist

Thomas (Tom) Cato, a native Georgian and resident of Savannah, Georgia, completed his BFA degree in painting/drawing and his M.Ed. in Administration and Supervision at Valdosta State College, and his Ed.D. degree in art education at the University of Georgia. He retired from his position as Chair of the Department of Art, Music and Theatre and Professor of Art and Art Education at Armstrong State University in Savannah, Georgia, in July of 2017.  Previously he taught at Georgia Southern University before joining Armstrong State University in 1993.

Tom Cato’s teaching experience included ten years in public and private school systems, twenty-seven years in the university setting, and over seven years in alternative settings in venues such as the Callanwolde Fine Arts Center in DeKalb County, Georgia. During that time, he spent seven years as an Artist-in-Residence for the Georgia Council for the Arts, Artist-in-Education program, and with the Fulton County, Artist-in-Education program. Many of his students have become art educators in Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, and other parts of the country. 

Tom has exhibited in numerous regional and national competitions, group shows, and one man shows. He currently works primarily with digital photography, but drawing and painting media, and combinations of these media with found objects still interest him. His art examines the natural world in his environment especially along the Georgia, Florida and Maine coasts and grows out of the imitationalist as well as expressivist approaches of his earlier works in painting. His latest paintings focus on coastal Georgia, boats in coastal Maine and the North Carolina mountains.  His other recent photo works continue this theme and are based on travels in Italy (Venice, Cinque Terra, Florence, Siena and Rome), Costa Rica, as well as travels to the San Juan Islands in Washington State, northern and southern New Mexico and the U.S. and British Virgin Islands.