Tad McKillop makes art that is affirming of life and the universal human experience. He says the figure is an ideal way to express things relating to our rites of passage or experiences as humans, and this is why the human figure remains central to his work.

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In Tad's studio in Ann Arbor, Michigan, there are always many projects in process at any given time. Valuing his independence as an artist and his ability to do all the work on a project from clay model to final casting and installation, he has his own fine art foundry: McKillop Fine Art.

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Tad was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1965. He has been interested in making art and artistic processes since early childhood. He studied figurative sculpture at the University of Michigan(BFA 1988) and found his passion not only for creating the figure but also the entire casting process. Tad received his MFA in 1992 from the Graduate School of Figurative Art at the New York Academy of Art.

Tad has taught sculpture, life drawing, and anatomy at several colleges and universities in southeast Michigan and northern Ohio over the years: the University of Michigan, the University of Toledo, Owens Community College, Washtenaw Community College, Delta Community College, Hillsdale College, and Mott Community College.