Tom McGill

Artist Tom McGill came to Hudson by way of Brooklyn and New Jersey. He arrived in 2013 specifically to help start an artist collective. Green Street Studios, along with the Circle 46 Gallery, is the result.

McGilllives above the studios and is focused on not only his own art, but on creating a viable space for local emerging and established artists. In this oral history, McGill speaks about coming to Hudson, the set-up and growth of Green Street Studios, and the community. Having lived in numerous places where he always felt the inevitability of leaving, he has become rooted in Hudson.

McGill also discusses his family of origin and the lack of support for artistic endeavors. His father, a big band jazz musician who was forced by his mother to quit when McGill, the eldest of six boys, was born. His father worked long hours and was not around. His father passed away when McGill was 17 and he had never heard his father play music. He recalls his mother telling him she loved him twice in his life, while his father him told each night. McGill noted that this routine felt rote; however, following his father’s death, he found books on child psychology in the basement.

This background is contrasted with McGill’s experience as a stay-at-home father —during a time [late 20^th c.] when such an arrangement was rare — and his unconditional support of his daughters’ creative aspirations, both of which are now professional creatives. These relationships are the sun in McGill’s galaxy. Both his father and uncle died at age 54 and, in looking to the future, he never thought beyond that age. Now that his 54^th birthday has passed, he discussed his ambivalence towards finding new meaning for living.

This interview would be of interest to those interested in the “art scene” of Hudson—specifically the tension between Warren Street galleries and those off the“main” street, growing up in a large Irish Catholic family, the at-the-time[late 20the century] novel experience of a stay-at-home father, the parental act of nurturing creative lives, and the intentional decisions made toparent like one’s family of origin.

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