The Desire to Create is Inside Each Human Soul – Part 5

In this part 5 of 7 mini-documentary, Tom Holdman shares about how he gained his art education and what has been a great inspiration to him in overcoming his trials and creating such timeless pieces.  

Education in Art

Tom Holdman in front of the large splash window created for Clyde Rec. Center in Springville, UT.

When I tried to get into BYU and they turned me down, I thought, “Oh man, how am I going to make it as an artist?”

Then I realized that people don’t want to see a fancy certificate hanging on the wall that shows you have graduated from a university. They want to see what you can do.

“I want you to show me your art. Show me your stuff”, is what they think. Then I thought that I needed to educate myself. I have to want it for myself. Like when we go to college, we have to go through steps and do certain assignments and hand in papers. That is a way to force us to learn, but you can do it by yourself if you have enough drive.

Window at the St Vitus Cathedral in Czech Republic. Image credit: Pinterest

How can I educate myself? What I did was make a couple art glass windows and I earned enough to spend a whole month traveling through Europe. I was staying in hostels, living on nothing, and looking at the great cathedrals. I would look at their art glass and see how it would inspire me.

I want to inspire more than is required. That was my education. I remember standing in Czechoslovakia, right after the wall had come down, in this cathedral. There was this great window that just took my breath away. It was so inspiring to me. I stood there in that church and made a commitment for myself, I said, “One day I will do a window like that. I will do it. I need to do that.” That is a commitment that I made to myself and I made it to God.

How Bad Did I Want to do Art?

There is that story of Plato when a student came up to him and he said, “How can I learn as much as you?” And Plato said, “Come to the ocean with me and I will show you.” So the student comes to the ocean and they walk into the water. Then, Plato takes the students head and holds his head under the water almost to the point where the student cannot breath anymore. Then he pulls the student’s head up and he is gasping for air and says, “What are you doing?”

Plato then says, “When you want to learn as much as you want air to breath, then you will be ready. Then I can teach you all that I know.” That story has really entered my heart and my life with art. That is how bad I want to do art glass. A specific area of art. You cannot spread yourself with all different kinds of projects and aspects of art. You need to focus on something. 

This documentary will continue in Part 6