About TJ

Biographical Profile

"Creating art is one layer of a rich life—not central to my self-expression, but deeply on the edge of my core. It is a critical part of my whole. "  —TJ Tremmel

Thomas (T. J.) Tremmel was born in Illinois of parents from Wisconsin and was schooled in Indiana, Michigan, with his formative years in Minnesota. He graduated from Creighton University in Omaha with a degree in English Literature in 1973. 

After a truncated career with John Deere Company, Tremmel apprenticed in modern furniture design and building with GoodWood of San Francisco, and in traditional furniture building with Richard Wincorn Studio of Dallas. 

In 1979, he partnered to open two food and music venues: The Alamo Cafe and Cottonwood Cafe in New York City’s West Village, and in 1980 finished 10th out of 950 entrants in the one and only Great Brooklyn Marathon of Roller Skating. 

Inspired by the works of Brancusi, Nochugi, and Modigliani, Tremmel returned to his home in Dallas and began to sculpt. To advertise his sculpture work, Tremmel created t-shirt designs based loosely on his sculptural work. The t-shirts were a hit and took a full-time front seat to his sculpture work. The Tremmel T-Shirt Company opened in 1981 specializing in art and humor serigraph t-shirts by Tremmel and nine other artists. Tremmel T-Shirts maintained two retail stores, an award winning mail order catalog, and wholesale facilities in Dallas for 13 years. 

From 1994-1999, Tremmel worked on a sculpture and pastel series titled “50 Fish.” The sculptures were loosely representational, species specific in wood, metal, and paint. The first half of “50 Fish” showed in 1996 at the Presidio Gallery in St. Augustine. In 1997, Tremmel and Jean Marie moved the show to their own Fine Fish Gallery & Store in St. Augustine, Florida which became today’s Butterfield Garage co-op art gallery. 

In 1999, Tremmel conclusively proved through extensive documentation that much of the waterway statistics presented in the environmental impact statement produced by the state and federal governments for the historic Bridge of Lions in downtown St. Augustine were wrong. The Bridge has been rehabilitated rather than being torn down. T. J. was a member of Save Our Bridge, Inc. that was honored with a National Historic Preservation Award.

Tremmel now resides in Lexington, Virginia. He has been married and partnered to artist Jean Marie Tremmel for more than thirty years, and he is wild about her. 
The OHHH SHOW sculptures were begun in early 2005 and are ongoing.