Tobias Hartwell Courts or "Tobe Hartwell" in Spartanburg, South Carolina, USA.  Inspired by boyhood memories of the housing project where I lived from kindergarten through the sixth grade, I create imagery that deals with community, friendship, the joy of childhood and, the Black American experience.  I focus on Joy, community and, childhood because most Black American descendants of slavery grow up in similar low-income neighborhoods.  My imagery of stories of the fun times I had with friends, neighbors and, classmates during my young years in Tobe, where I lived from kindergarten through 6th grade. 
Collage is the perfect medium through which to tell stories because it involves bringing together disparate items and creating harmony, cooperation and, unity among the individual parts, much like the community I remember.  Paper, as my primary source material, is a metaphor for how I feel society views myself and Black people like me.  For example, paper is often discarded and dismiss yet it is essential to the 
I use painted paper, found paper, and newspaper. Working mostly on wooden surfaces, I sand down built-up layers of paper to create visual and tactile texture which allude to the history of the space, object or, figure.  I also draw and paint over collage pieces or divide the composition up between collage, drawn and, painted areas.  Staples, screens (plastic and metal), string, wire, and fabric are all tools I use to create visual movement or volume.
I remember reading a lot as a kid and I searched for books about kids like me and my friends from places like the housing projects where we lived. my imagery are the pages from that picture book I could never find as a kid.

-Melvin Nesbitt Jr