Producer’s Blog: Tom Tsuchiya on The Art Show

Whenever my presence is needed at Think^TV, there’s a landmark I always anticipate seeing on my drive up. Lux Mundi, the 52-foot-tall statue of Jesus that stands outside Solid Rock Church in Monroe, Ohio, is probably just as hard to miss as its predecessor, the 62-foot-tall King of Kings (perhaps better known colloquially as “Touchdown Jesus,” or “Big Butter Jesus”), which was destroyed by lightning in 2010.

I can’t exactly recall when I learned that the sculptor of Lux Mundi is the same mind behind all of the bronze statues of Reds players that I resisted climbing during childhood visits to Great American Ballpark (if I’m being honest, I still have to fight the urge to climb them). But what I do recall is the rabbit hole it led me into, as a Google search introduced me to sculpture upon sculpture I’d seen so many times, but about whose creator I had no idea.

Tom Tsuchiya is the mind behind public art you’ve more than likely come across, especially if you live in the Cincinnati region. From the LED-iteration of Embrace No Evil, which made its debut during BLINK 2024 and now calls Court Street home, to Xavier University’s D’Artagnan, who urges Musketeers to action, Tom has quite literally shaped the Cincinnati landscape many of us know and love. Beyond our fair city, he’s also the artist behind many of the reliefs that fill the plaque gallery at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

I knew I had to get to know the creative force behind these well-known – but perhaps under-attributed – works. I’m excited to have Tom featured in our first episode of Season 15! We had the chance to interview Tom in his workspace at Essex Studios in Cincinnati’s Walnut Hills neighborhood. The studio was filled with giant casts and scale models of much of Tom’s recognizable works.

It’s these features that made for some killer framing in our interview, although we did get a bit of a surprise when checking to make sure everything on our b-camera was in order.

When opting to produce this segment, I couldn’t help but wonder how Tom might feel about one of his most prominent works being the subject of memes, tongue-in-cheek parody songs, or local rock bands. The whole lightning incident is the stuff of legend for just being so – unusual. But both editor Mike Schwartz and I took note of Tom’s positivity about the iconic, albeit intentionally silly, alternate names for Lux Mundi. He even admitted to loving “Hug Me Jesus”!

I was personally eager to learn more about the engineering behind Tom’s iconic bronze of Pete Rose in his signature headfirst slide. In designing this structure, Tom was adamant about not having to resort to any sort of posts or supports to hold the statue up. With the help of some Reds fans who also happened to be GE engineers, they were able to design a skewer-less sculpture of Pete, a design you’ll learn more about in the segment (yay, science!). Fortunately, if I ever give in to my statue climbing urges, I rest easy knowing that Pete is engineered to hold up to 6,000 pounds.

We also got to witness a wee bit of Reds history in the making! We were lucky enough to start production when Tom was in the midst of working on a sculpture to honor legendary Reds announcer Marty Brennaman. Videographer Zach Kramer was there to capture a modeling session with Marty at Essex Studios in July, as well as footage at the unveiling in September. It was certainly awesome to capture and incorporate different phases of the sculpture-making process – we’ll call it a bit of production serendipity!

In the footage review process, I began to pick up on the finer details of Tom’s work. I noticed a small duck carved in the Reds cap of the boy included in the bronze of civil rights activist Marian Spencer  located in Smale Park. During our interview, Tom also told me about the cicadas he incorporated into his Catamount statue at Mount St. Joseph University– a tribute to the University’s resident cicada expert, Dr. Gene Kritsky.

I think art like Tom’s is a great reminder to stop to take in the Easter Eggs that fill our world. Of course, I can’t call Tom’s work blink-and-you’ll miss it, because you really can’t miss any of it. But maybe we don’t take enough time to consider the finer details – and the mind behind the work – when we experience public sculpture. And I can’t really blame us – a lot of these are observed while in motion (Lux Mundi is best seen from I-75, after all). Yet it’s taken me over two decades to learn about the artist who shaped the city I call home. From here on out, I’m keeping my eyes peeled for everything else I have yet to discover.

Nadya Ellerhorst
CET and Think^TV Producer

Stream the latest episode of The Art Show, available for free on the PBS App, to learn more about Tom and other artists in our region: https://watch.cetconnect.org/video/season-15-episode-1-cbfmz9/.