Todd McCollister
Todd McCollister builds primarily in wood, in the zone between Furniture Design and Art, from
his studio in Omaha, Nebraska, USA. McCollister earned a BFA in Sculpture and Photography
in 1996 from Texas Christian University (Fort Worth, Texas) and an MFA in Sculpture in 2000
from Stony Brook University (Long Island, New York). He then moved to New York City, making
sculptures in a one-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn and doing freelance installation work for
galleries in Chelsea. He also began working one day every week in the office of the public artist
Ilan Averbuch, which continued for fourteen years.
While it was his intention to build a career as an artist, McCollister found the gallery scene
impenetrable. Dealers (even ones he worked for regularly) told him, “please don’t try to show
me your work,” and “I only consider artists who are recommended by one of the five people I
trust.” Following years of trying to build acquaintances with dealers strong enough to overcome their natural defenses against clamoring artists, he gave up in 2006 and shifted to designing and building custom furniture.
It was a clean break, as he had no intention of returning to Sculpture. For eight more years in
New York, he developed design skills and his woodworking craft and learned to navigate the
commission process with clients. In 2014 he brought what he learned back to his hometown of
Omaha, NE, and officially founded Long Grain Furniture.
In Omaha, a much smaller art community, many people looked at his furniture pieces and
declared “these are artworks!” McCollister resisted that at first, having seen sharp divisions
between Art and Design in New York, but eventually he began to accept that it might be at least
partly true. He accepted that he might be an artist again, and from there it was natural to make
sculptures again. For a few years, it was just two to four sculptures per year, when there was
time. Coming out of the Covid Pandemic in 2022, in the Great Reset, he had a chance to give
several months to making sculptures, realized Sculpture was still where his heart belonged, and
rededicated himself to it. There are still furniture pieces coming from his hands, but fewer, and
less custom.
McCollister is an active member of the informal Omaha art community and believes in
supporting his fellow artists as a path to everyone’s success. He’s currently running a monthly
event series called “Final Fridays at Todd’s,” aimed at bringing the Omaha art community
together to make us all stronger, through networking and sharing experience and information.
He is also a co-organizer of “Second Monday Critique Group,” which meets monthly at a
different artist’s studio, discussing their work at depth, sometimes bringing more feedback than
the artist has ever had.