About

I make all kinds of art: stories, costumes, paintings, music, fashion, movies, installations, and puzzle hunts. Movies and puzzle hunts are my favorite formats because I love collaboration, and I get to explore several art disciplines at the same time.

Mission

Artists are responsible for the influence their art has on others, and I make deliberate decisions about the art I make. My stories are fun and engaging, and I feature girls and women in the lead roles. Most of my stories are comedies with elements of absurdity or magical realism, and I love to have characters solve problems. My hope is to entertain viewers while inspiring them to make a better life for everyone.

- Tom Buhrman

Exhibitions & Projects

2024

Filming Ghost Creek Estates comedy short

2023

Finished large snake sculpture/painting
Finished painting and mailing 80 original art postcards to friends and family
Constructed new pieces of Rubber Creatures gear
Completed Protest Coat (Fascism is Boring)
Participated in Scrap Exchange's Durham Art Parade

2022

Completed a large painting commission
Contributed sound piece for animation by Reinfected.me
Built a typeface based on the handwriting & cartoons of Dennis Palmer
Filming short movies
Building several props and costumes for movies
Teaching young artists how to make masks and art
Short play, Brunhilda and the Eternal Flame, featured in online reading: Sips and Scripts

2021

Completed two short films that are official selections and award nominees for the Austin Revolution Film Festival:
- 47 Baskets for John's Birthday
- Checklist for Death
Wrote three short plays, including
- Legendary Battle selected for the NC10BY10 Play Festival
Driving with Dale short screenplay nominated for Best Comedy Short Screenplay for the Austin Revolution Film Festival
Painting a commission
Created several monster masks and costumes for films
Creating new Rubber Creatures apparel

2020

Driving with Dale short screenplay is an official selection and award nominee for the Austin Revolution Film Festival
Here Come the Orcs music video selected for the Longleaf Film Festival
Unwanted Poets short play selected for production in the NC 10 by 10 Play Festival
Wrote and began filming a short movie called Checklist for Death

2019

Premiered two movies Nothing in Durham and The Girl in White at the Carolina Theater – Durham, NC
Durham Fashion Week: September 13-15, 2019
Rubber Creatures Pop-Up Store at Durham Bazaar Spring Market – Durham, NC
Wrote and filmed movies Nothing in Durham and The Girl in White

2018

Rubber Creatures Pop-Up Store at Innocence & Lies Goth Dance Night at Arcana – Durham, NC
Finalist in the TV pilot script competition at the Los Angeles International Screenplay Awards – Los Angeles, CA
Finalist in the feature screenplay competition at the Austin Revolution Film Festival – Austin, TX
Durham Art Guild’s 64th Annual Juried Exhibition – Durham, NC
Truth to Power 6 – juried exhibit at Pleiades Gallery, Durham, NC
Rubber Creatures Pop-Up Store at The PUSH Summer Fetish Weekend – Durham, NC
The Sticky Note Show – The Carrack, Durham, NC
Beyond Film Festival –Cary Theater, Cary, NC
Durham Art Guild Member Showcase – Durham Arts Council, Durham, NC
Apt. 4F: Functional, Fashion, Fiber and Fine Art – Scrap Exchange, Durham, NC
- Art Review: Recycled fabric, and even bike inner tubes, find new life as beautiful garments
20th Annual Postcards from the Edge – Hosted by Visual AIDS at Gallery 524, New York, NY

2017

Meso-plo-DINE 2017 – Scrap Exchange, Durham, NC
Rubber Creatures from Outer Space! – Golden Belt: Room 100 Gallery, Durham, NC. Presented by the Durham Art Guild
- Art Review: Rubber creatures from outer space? That’s the inspiration for this artist’s fashion line.
Truth to Power 5 – juried exhibit at Pleiades Gallery, Durham, NC
- Art Review: Standing up to power. Artists’ works focus on social injustice
To Cut Is To Think – The Scrap Exchange, Durham, NC
Durham Art Guild Member Showcase – Durham, NC
MONA Biennial – Museum of Non-Visible Art

2016

Durham Art Guild’s 62nd Annual Juried Exhibition – Durham, NC
Monster Drawing Rally – live drawing event and fundraiser at the NC Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC
- Art Review: At NCMA’s Monster Drawing Rally, Boundaries Between the Art World and the Real World Fall
Eight Little Pieces – paintings on display at a medical office in Raleigh, NC
Truth to Power 4 – juried exhibit at Pleiades Gallery, Durham, NC
- Art Review: Truth to Power, Pleiades Gallery's Annual Social Justice Show, Aptly Starts With a Cry of Pain
Fraqture – collaborative interactive digital installation organized by Smashing Boxes on display at 21c Museum Hotel, Durham, NC
First Annual RTP Employee Art Exhibit – The Frontier, The Research Triangle Park, NC
Carrack Community Shows (2015-2017) The Carrack, Durham, NC