Tommy and Ann Sweeney
Always
Ann and Tommy Sweeney crisscrossed Wisconsin over the course of a year to capture thousands of images for Always, the Baird Center grand staircase mural.
“We take a ton of photographs because I like to mix perspectives to show familiar elements in a new context, and to address the past while looking forward,” Tommy explains. “We’ll often capture a subject from street or water level and from a helicopter, so the image looks up and down at the same time.”
Always takes a non-linear upward path through industry, agriculture, nature, recreation, and civic institutions, ultimately arriving at expansive joy. “I’m a maximalist,” Tommy says, “so there’s a crazy amount of detail in there. I want repeat viewers to discover new things in the image for years to come.”
About Tommy and Ann Sweeney
Artists Tommy and Ann Sweeney work with the architecture and design community to create images specific to the space the art will inhabit. Their goal: to express a sense of joy and discovery.
“I love exploring a new city or landscape or industry as we shoot the raw material for our work. But even a well-traveled place offers moments of discovery when we’re looking at it through the lens of a new project,” Tommy says.
The Sweeneys live just off Madison’s Capitol Square. It’s a quick walk across the Square and down a few blocks to their studio, a 1948 passenger rail car parked on an old siding next to the former Milwaukee Road Depot. The unconventional setting suits them, Ann says. “It’s as cozy as it sounds—the perfect place to create.”
