Groveland Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of Novellas, an exhibition of new work by Minnesota artist, Tom Maakestad. Raised in rural Northfield, Minnesota in a family of artists among a community of farmers, Maakestad has always used his knowledge and appreciation of the land as a source of inspiration for his work.

This show is being developed with support from a Minnesota State Arts Board ‘Artist Initiative” grant. The purpose of the grant is to help the artist maintain their work and fund special aspects of the project.

Maakestad describes the origins of his new body of work:

“In this exhibition I am working with subject matter that I’ve encountered throughout the year and I am using a variety of media to fit the specific subject. For example, in the winter I was skate skiing, mainly at William O’Brien State Park near Marine on St Croix. I developed a series of dry pastel drawings from these daily trips, mainly responding to the specific color pallet of the winter woods and prairie.

“In the spring and summer I have transitioned to works from the St Croix River where we often float a pontoon and spend lazy afternoons and evenings. These pieces have evolved into small and larger oil paintings on canvas and board.

“Finally, I’m working on summer landscapes from around the state during the verdant, sometimes hot, late afternoons. These are completed in both oil pastel and oil paint. The overall body of this exhibition is a group of novellas — long short stories or short novels.”

The exhibition runs concurrently with our annual Winter Salon featuring new work from twenty Groveland artists. Tom Maakestad and many artists from our Winter Salon will be present at the opening reception on Saturday, December 3 from 2-5 pm. The exhibitions continue through January 14, 2023.