All Of It — New Jersey Artists Tom Nussbaum and Christine Romanell at the Montclair Art Museum

Host: Alison Stewart, WNYC
Guests: Tom Nussbaum, Christine Romanell
Date: October 7, 2025

Overview of the Episode

This episode of All Of It with Alison Stewart explores the creativity, processes, and philosophies of two New Jersey visual artists whose work is currently showcased at the Montclair Art Museum: Tom Nussbaum and Christine Romanell. The episode offers an in-depth look at each artist's career, mediums, inspirations, and their contributions to culture and community through public and gallery art.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Tom Nussbaum: Retrospective and Process

Segment: 00:09—14:11

Early Influences & Beginnings

• Creative Upbringing: Tom credits his father, an electrical engineering professor and hobbyist tinkerer, for teaching him practical skills and nurturing a love of making things:

  "He would teach me how to use tools and I would use them to make things on my own." (01:10)

• First Artwork: Nussbaum describes how his earliest creations, such as small ice boat racers made at age 10, are part of the retrospective, emphasizing a lifelong continuum of making things by hand.

Becoming an Artist

• Continuous Creativity:

  "I always made things...it's just been a continuum for me." (02:06)

• The realization he would be an “artist-artist” came later, but hands-on creation has always been central.

Hands-On Practice

• The Importance of Materials and Intuition:

  "When I'm working with materials, I kind of fall into a world of my own...I work very intuitively." (02:39)

  • Rarely plans sculptures fully; sketches serve as a jumping-off point for improvisation.

New York Years & Artistic Influences

• Immersed in NYC’s Creative Scene (1980–1993):

  "There were artists working everywhere in all the neighborhoods. I just felt a lot of freedom..." (03:54)

  • Worked with and for noted artists like Mimi Gross, Susan Pitt, Red Grooms; early exhibitions at Phyllis Kyne Gallery, which specialized in 'eccentric' and outsider artists.

The Montclair Retrospective

• Curating a Lifetime of Work:
  • Initially overwhelmed at the thought of including every piece:

    "That turns out to be, you know, 1400 pieces." (05:33)

  • Curator Gail Stavitsky helped distill the show to about 100 pieces, showcasing each decade and medium.

The ACME Robot Night Lights

• Family-Driven Art Becomes Cottage Industry:

  "I made a simple nightlight out of a cheese grater and a tomato paste can...And pretty soon I had a little cottage industry, making and producing these night lights..." (06:15–06:45)

  • The night lights, originally made for his daughter, grew into hand-crafted objects sold through museum stores.

On Shapes and Color in Sculpture

• From Ceramics to Steel Structures:

  "A lot of my pieces are based on the idea of vessel or a basket. And then I started thinking about buildings as being like vessel like, and even the human body." (07:12)

• Uses color to "lead the eye around the sculpture":

  "The colors can guide your eye through and around the form. You can see the form, and you can also see through the form." (08:23, 09:04)

Absurdity and Meaning: 'Listen'

• Notable Public Work:

  "That piece is titled Listen, and what it is is a small figure curled up inside the ear of a very large head..." (09:29)

  • Symbolizes comfort, mythological space, and the joy of feeling heard.

Studio Practice & New Work

• Workspace:
  • Studio in a former Johnson & Johnson factory in East Orange:

    "My studio is just stuffed...It's a pretty fun place. It's a little bit like being inside my brain..." (10:24, 10:44)

• Latest Piece – 'Jalopy':
  • Large welded steel mural, black and white, depicting a car journey with an array of characters, including the Grim Reaper:

    "It's a piece about a car or a vehicle moving through, kind of moving through the landscape of life." (11:19)

    • Completed just days before the show opened.

Public Art vs. Studio Art

• Different Approaches:

  "When you're in the studio, you're just doing your own thing...In public art, the work is planned in advance because it has to be presented to a client..." (12:42)

  • Public works demand anticipation, durability, and approval processes unusual in studio practice.

Notable Quote

"I work very intuitively...the act of working with materials in three-dimensional space is very important to the process."
— Tom Nussbaum (02:39)

2. Christine Romanell: Digital to Physical, Pattern, and Light

Segment: 14:23—23:54

Artistic Genesis & Daily Routine

• Drawn to Art Since Childhood:

  "When did you first get interested in making art?"
  "Oh, I don't know. Sometime after I was born." (14:58)

• Works every day in the studio, beginning with digital ideation and striving to materialize digital concepts.

Digital Methods and New Technologies

• Process From Digital to Physical:

  "I kind of call it Pinocchio. Like, I'm trying to make them real." (15:11)

  • Starts with digital drawings, then transforms them into layered 3D prints, laser-cut wood, or even ceramics via molds.

• Impact of 3D Printing & Laser Cutting:

  "I come from a graphic design background...those skills are kind of my wheelhouse." (16:19)

  • Shift from hand-drawing to computer-aided design is a natural extension of her training.

Material Evolution

• Transition from Plexiglass:
  • Earlier works used welded plexiglass, later abandoned due to cost and toxicity:

    "I try not to weld it. I was doing a lot of welding, the chemical welding, which is tedious and dangerous." (16:55)

Obsession with Patterns and Circles

• Mathematical and Natural Inspiration:

  "I love investigating patterns, non-repeating patterns...when you take a form, for example, a circle, and you rotate it using the golden ratio...You're getting order and pattern, but without the repetition." (17:31–17:50)

  • Draws on math, fractals, and natural forms in repeated circular, spiral motifs.

Meaning of 'Sacred Transition'

• Title & Geometry:
  • Begins with overlapping circles, creating a vesica piscis (almond-shaped area):

    "In sacred geometry, that's the crossing of the physical and the spirit world...my work is trying to get off the screen, and so I'm making it physical. And it's that crossover between those two worlds." (18:58, 19:40)

  • The installation sits between two floors/exhibitions, representing a boundary, both literal and metaphorical, between digital and physical realms.

Exhibition Design & Experience

• Installation Location and Light Interaction:
  • Placed in a glass stairwell, visible from outside:

    "So wall pieces, three wood wall pieces on the wall, and then there's multiple hanging plexi halos that are around 3D prints...when the sun hits it, it...spreads light all over the walls and the glass." (19:55–20:29)

  • Reminiscent of a past installation at Spring Break Art Fair where sunlight animated her work.

Inspirations: Cosmology & Islamic Art

• Sir Roger Penrose & Quasicrystals:

  "...there's echoes of the previous universe that kind of like follow in...The cycles of life, the cycles of the universe, cycles of everything." (21:28)

• Islamic Pattern Traditions:
  • Discovering Penrose patterns and their medieval Islamic counterparts, and how these patterns even appear in quasicrystals found in meteorites:

    "The very same pattern is also found in something called a quasicrystal, but in three dimensions. So it was found in a meteorite..." (22:11–23:20)

Community Engagement

• Upcoming Open Studios:
  • Both Romanell and Nussbaum will participate in Manufacturer's Village open studio event, welcoming the public to witness their process:

    "About 2,000 people come through...there's food trucks, there's 60 other artists. It's a really, it's a great open studio." (23:33–23:44)

Notable Quote

"My work is trying to get off the screen, and so I'm making it physical. And it's that crossover between those two worlds."
— Christine Romanell (19:40)

Memorable Moments & Quotes with Timestamps

• Tom Nussbaum on falling into a world of his own:

  "When I'm working with materials, I kind of fall into a world of my own where I can make things up as I go along. I work very intuitively." (02:37)

• Christine Romanell on digital-to-physical transformation:

  "I kind of call it Pinocchio. Like, I'm trying to make them real." (15:11)

• Tom Nussbaum on 'Listen':

  "That little figure is kind of curled up and very comfortable inside the ear of this much larger head...It's about the psychology of what it...feels like to be heard." (09:29)

• Christine Romanell on the intersection of pattern, spirituality, and digital life:

  "Our current modern life is digital versus spiritual...my work is trying to get off the screen, and so I'm making it physical. And it's that crossover between those two worlds." (19:40)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:09 — Introduction to show and Tom Nussbaum
• 01:07 — Influence of Nussbaum's father and early creative experiences
• 02:37 — Nussbaum on working with hands and intuition
• 05:21 — Planning the retrospective, curating decades of work
• 06:15 — Story of the ACME Robot Night Lights
• 07:10 — Nussbaum discusses geometric, vessel forms and use of color
• 09:29 — The sculpture 'Listen' and its meaning
• 10:24 — Description of Nussbaum’s studio
• 11:16 — Creation of 'Jalopy', new sculpture
• 12:42 — Differences between public and studio art
• 14:23 — Christine Romanell introduction
• 15:08 — Romanell’s daily studio practice and digital process
• 16:19 — How technology and design background shaped her art
• 17:31 — Inspiration from patterns and circles; use of golden ratio
• 18:41 — Naming and meaning behind 'Sacred Transition'
• 19:55 — Description of museum installation, effect of light
• 21:28 — Influence of cosmology and Penrose pattern
• 22:11 — Inspiration from Islamic patterns and quasicrystals
• 23:25 — Manufacturer's Village open studios

Summary

This episode is a vibrant, deeply personal exploration of how two accomplished artists—Tom Nussbaum and Christine Romanell—approach the act of creation, the evolution of their mediums, and the intersection of intuition, pattern, and materiality. Nussbaum’s retrospective reflects on the breadth of a creative life lived both in the studio and public sphere, while Romanell’s installation investigates the bridge between the digital and physical, mathematics and nature, the spiritual and everyday technology. Both demonstrate how rootedness in history and openness to new tools and patterns can result in resonant, community-engaging artwork.

Visit the Montclair Art Museum through January 4th, 2026 for Tom Nussbaum’s retrospective, and through August 9th, 2026 for Christine Romanell’s "Sacred Transition."
Manufacturer's Village Open Studios: October 18–19, 12–5 PM.