Tom Maakestad:
I'm captivated by the process of making something that represents the imagery that I have observed from the land. Places, light-filled, weather beaten and rich with color infuse our senses every day. Speaking for myself, it is hard not to paint most times I am out doors, because there is always
subject matter. Producing landscape painting for me has never been about copying nature. Nature is made of rock, air and living cells while my landscapes are made of paint, pastel, paper and canvas. The mystery for me, happens in the mind's eye and on the surface of the art. Creating landscapes is making metaphors for the transcendent quality of our lives on earth. Capturing a moment in which one was present on the land at a place and time.

Maakestad's work resides in numerous public, corporate and private collections around the world including the US Ambassador's Residence in Oslo, Norway, 3M Corporation, Burlington Northern Railroad, US Bank, University of Wisconsin Hospitals, Wisconsin Public Power, Target Corporation, Sacred Heart Hospital, Eau Claire, WI, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago, Ill, Kimberly Clark Paper Company, and Thrivent Financial among many other collections.

Maakestad and his work were the subject of a December, 2005 article in American Art Collector Magazine as well as numerous reviews and stories in publications as diverse as Art News, The Artist Magazine, Minneapolis Star and Tribune, St. Paul Pioneer Press, Hong Kong Standard, South China Morning Post, Hong Kong and others.

Flood Plain	Winter Rows
Baily's Harbor Marsh	Baily's Harbor Outlet
Poll Line Road Summer	Poll Line Road Heat
Fall Storm	July 19
Brown County Farmstead	Brown County Landscape
Valley Grove Landscape	St. Croix River