The Art Museum of Eastern Idaho will feature the lifetime work of Gooding artist Tom Pritscher during its annual Off-the-Wall sale, giving the public a chance to view and purchase pieces from his decades of artistic practice.
The event gives visitors a chance to have a glimpse into the creative mind of Pritscher while supporting the museum’s exhibitions and the local art community.
“We are really excited to have Tom's stuff for sure. We've included a few of his ceramic pieces and those are just really unique and special, especially because of the story behind them and his connection to the museum,” said Amy Thompson, executive director of The Art Museum of Eastern Idaho.
Pritscher is a classically trained artist who mainly works in abstract clay. He received his Master of Fine Art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. But life led him to serve in the Navy during the Vietnam War, which then led him to build homes for orphaned children in Saigon.
“Even before he got big into the art, he was just a traveler. He went all over the world and studied transcendental meditation under the Maharishi in India,” said Pat Stauffer, Pritscher’s nephew.
These global and spiritual experiences, along with teaching meditation to influential Hollywood circles and studying art alongside the likes of Georgia O’Keeffe and Marcel Duchamp, influenced the themes of Pritscher’s work.
“Over his lifetime, he was observing this shift from masculine to feminine energy. How there's becoming a stronger feminine influence. And he was trying to document that in his art,” Thompson said. “But I would just say that personally, when I look at it, I really think about him and the peaceful energy that he has.”
According to Stauffer, Pritscher’s home is filled with his work—beyond what just their family could hold onto. Fearing that his precious creative works would go to waste, Pritscher and Stauffer reached out to the museum.
“He was afraid that he wasn't going to wake up one morning and all of his artwork was going to end up in a dumpster,” Stauffer said.
A friendship has since formed between the museum and Pritscher that makes it the perfect place for his art to hang on and off the wall.
“The whole family is ecstatic about it. They can't wait to see it in the museum and put up where it belongs,” Stauffer said.
The Off-the-Wall Art sale is Friday, March 20, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday, March 21, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. All pieces will be marked with their price, but once sold, they will be gone. Admission is free to the public and the event will take place at The Art Museum of Eastern Idaho. To learn more, visit the museum’s website.
“Get there early, grab some friends, make a day of it,” Thompson said. “Just come and enjoy and see what we've got.”