Story & Lesson Highlights with Jerry Tuckman of Commonwealth of Massachusetts

We’re looking forward to introducing you to Jerry Tuckman. Check out our conversation below.

Jerry, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. What makes you lose track of time—and find yourself again?
Two things which help me lose track of time and find myself again are creating steel sculptures and writing poetry, often 9but not always) about sculptures others and I have created.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Hello. My name is Gerald Michael Tuckman but most often I’m known as Jerry.. I am a husband, father of daughters and grandfather of boys and a girl, turning 80 this Spring and a sculptor with steel found objects with recent pieces at the Bennington (VT) Museum’s Summer North Bennington Outdoor Sculpture Show (NBOSS). as well as a poet. I am pleased to be publishing my first book in the Spring. It is called ArtsPairing and contains 50 works of art, some of which I have created and 50 poems, almost all of which I have created. I have had a variety of jobs over 50+ years, seventeen years working on low-income economic development, housing, food and energy programs, seventeen years working on corporate real estate and seventeen years doing fund-raising for universities and non-profits. I have served on various non-profit boards and have been an elected town meeting member in my town of Brookline Massachusetts for sixteen years, in two different eras.

Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What relationship most shaped how you see yourself?
The relationship which most shaped how I see myself in this phase of my life, retirement, is Peter Barrett, Berkshire Master Sculptor in Steel and my artistic mentor. He has brought out a creativity in me as we create steel sculptures from found objects. When we are doing this my focus us is fully on creating each sculpture and when I look at, and think about, about what we have created I totally focus on writing poetry which describes what I see physically and feel emotionally about what we have created. I now see myself as a creative person. I describe what Peter has brought out in me as his helping me achieve a dream I did not know I had.

Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
I worked for more than fifty years. My wife annd I pursued our respective employment to support ourselves and our family. While I was privileged to spend much of my work empowering low-income and minority folks I was basically working to earn a living. I wanted to create some kind of tactile art in my retirement and spent five years looking for an artist who would mentor me, teach me to create art, much as he or she would. I am a good networker. For five years I investigated any artist I heard about or could find to see if someone would allow me to help in their artistic endeavors and learn how to create art of some kind.

I visited museums and galleries and studios and workshops and found artists who sculpted out of clay and built huge, brightly-colored mobikes both to stand in the ground and hang but everyone I found would only work alone. I talked to artists themselves, museum officials and gallery owners, anyone and everyone. No success. No one would take me on. I thought I would not be able to find an outlet for my creativity.

Finally, I talked with a sculptor who curated a wonderful outdoor sculpture show at The Mount in the Berkshires I was fascinated by and enjoyed each Summer. Would she take me on? Did she know of anyone who might. She thought of one person and gave me is contact information. I emailed him and took him out for breakfast at a local place near his shop/studio. He agreed to let me enter his work and guide me and assist in me designing and creating my own work. With his help I have created more than seventeen sculptures cover the past five years. Each of the past four years I have had at least one sculpture housed atbtgecBenmingtin (VT) Museum during the summer North Bennington Outdoor Sculpture Show (NBOSS). In the process I have rediscovered my love of writing poetry and will publish a book on ArtsPairing, pairing poetry with sculpture and fine arts, in the Spring of 2026.

I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. Whom do you admire for their character, not their power?
I admire a number of people I know, and know of, for their character, not their power.

Of those I have known directly I have most admired my dear friend, Steven, who was a principled peace activist all of his life. He taught a peace curriculum throughout an entire school system, helped found, staff and serve on the board of a peace non-profit and lectured on, and moderated discussions around, the , middle-east peace process..

Of those I don’t know directly I greatly admire my Massachusetts US Senator, Elizabeth Warren. Again, her values and character rather than her power. Her principled stances in support of low income and minority communities through her work at Harvard Law School, including her work in creating the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. This work led her to run successfully for the United States Senate, where she has aggressively pursued implementation of her values.

Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. What is the story you hope people tell about you when you’re gone?
I try to live my life pursuing interesting and exciting opportunities which come my way or which I can create. There are many stories I be pleased for people to tell about me:,that I dove into Devil’s Pond on top of Victoria Falls as well as the sea in Antarctica, that I have set foot on every continent on Earth, that I spent much of my work life supporting the creation of low-income housing, that I have created more than fifteen steel sculptures in retirement over the last five years and I am publishing a book on ArtsPairing, coupling poetry with fine arts and sculpture.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.artworkarchive.com/profile/gerald-m-jerry-tuckman
• Instagram: @jerrytuckmanart
• Linkedin: JerryTuckmanArts
• Facebook: Tuckman ArtsPairing