Thomas Trimborn

Born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, I always had an interest in music, art, and history (Abraham Lincoln in particular). As a student at South Division High School, I won awards for painting and sculpture from the Milwaukee Journal, Wisconsin State Fair, and Lutheran Brotherhood, and studied art privately for a short time. Even though I ultimately followed a career as a music educator, my artwork continued to appear on program, record jacket, book, and magazine covers, and served as illustrations for articles I have had published in music and history journals. In Springfield, IL two of my original Lincoln works hang in the narthex of the First Presbyterian Church (known as Lincoln’s Church), and my Lincoln portrait prints were sold locally there at the Lincoln Home NHS and elsewhere for over 40
years. My original artwork has been exhibited throughout the Midwest – including the Jura Silverman Gallery in Spring Green, WI, Lincoln Museum in Fort Wayne, IN, Valparaiso University Chapel in Valparaiso, IN, Old State Capitol in Springfield, IL, and often at Truman State University and the Kirksville Arts Center in Kirksville, MO. My artwork is on permanent exhibit at the United States Air Force Academy Band rehearsal facility (Peterson Air Force Base) Colorado Springs, CO, and appears in my book Encounters with Lincoln: Images and Words, published by the Truman State University Press. From 1994 to 2021 I was privileged to provide the cover art for 104 issues of the Missouri School Music magazine, a quarterly publication sent to its 3,000 members. I try to touch the viewer by striking a balance between realism and imagination, often to convey a message, but more often simply to invoke an unspecified feeling. Creating art is something I do. Not just want to do, but need to do.