St. Olaf College

Tom Maakestad

Contemporary
United States
b. b. 1957
View objects by this artist.

Tom Maakestad was born in Northfield, Minnesota, in 1957. His father, John Maakestad, was an artist who taught at St. Olaf College. In 1980, Maakestad received his BA in Art from Luther College, and continued on to the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. He received a purchase award from the Jerome Foundation’s Young Minnesota Artists juried exhibit in 1980. Through this he joined the Suzanne Kohn Gallery of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and remained until the gallery closed in 1995. After its closing, Maakestad became a member of the Groveland Gallery in Minneapolis, where he has solo exhibitions every two years while also participating in group events. From 1985 to 1992, Maakestad worked in Hong Kong as the creative director at Reed Elsevier, a publishing company and trade show firm, creating trade show concepts.
Much of Maakestad’s paintings depict the landscape near his family’s farm in Northfield, Minnesota. His works have been shown in more than sixty exhibitions worldwide since 1980. In 1992, he established Maakestad Design Office in Marine on St. Croix, Minnesota, where he also lives.

Madison Duran ‘20
March 2019

Sources:


“Biography.” Tom Maakestad, www.tommaakestad.com/biography.
Elliott, Kate. “Tom Maakestad.” Luther College, 27 Feb. 2018,
www.luther.edu/fine-arts/artists/maakestad-tom/.
“Tom Maakestad.” Groveland Gallery, www.grovelandgallery.com/artist/tom-maakestad/.