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Tom Reed



Tom received MFA from the University of Iowa in Printmaking in 1998, Where he studied under Keith Achepohl, Bob Glasgow and Virginia Myers. After an offer from artist Tony Fitzpatrick, Reed moved to Chicago to to work as a printer For Fitzpatrick’s Big Cat Press. After meeting Steve Campbell, and collaborating with him on several projects, Reed was asked to come and work for Jack Lemon’s Landfall Press. He worked there for several years as the intaglio printer, collaborating with and printing works by: Peregrine Hoenig, Ed Paschke, David Levinthal, John Buck, and Sol Lewitt to name a few.

He then moved to St. Louis, his wife Amy’s home town, where he currently is the Master Printer at Island Press, Washington University in St. Louis’ Collaborative Print Workshop housed in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Art. Where he and colleague Lisa Bulawsky have worked hard to build and maintain the strong reputation of the press and a top flight print publisher.

Tom has maintained an active studio practice with exhibitions at Bruno David Gallery in St. Louis MO, and group shows at both the Contemporary Art Museum in St. Louis and the Elmhurst Art Museum. In his spare time he is an avid fly fisher, fly tyer, and rod builder.

Artist Statement

The river is continually referred to in my work. Once a symbol of time and change in my paintings, it now has become a collaborative partner. I spend days and hours on the river fly fishing. Mementos of this time on the river—beaver-chewed sticks, logs, arrowheads, and junk—slowly began making their way into my studio and eventually into my work. Over time they formed a bridge between the river and my creative output. In my exhibition this is the before, I combined painted landscapes with small, wooden sculptures in the form of trail markers dotting a hiking trail. The largest, an arrow, reads simply “Before.” The word is both a warning and an invitation to view any ordinary, present-day moment through the eyes of a time traveler from the future. It asks, What would you change if you could go back in time? What if you are there right now?


Work by Tom Reed

A low wooden bench holds a dozen wooden totems capped by little colorful flags on tree branches. A large, dark print with a field of stars appears on the wall behind.

Install shot from ”this is the before”, Bruno David Gallery, 2020

A painting of various trees across a river, some bare, others green: the trees' bark is rendered with much detail, its texture almost like scales, glittering from a distance. The river that runs between the two stretches of land is a soft phthalo blue.

tiny tree, 2019

Mixed media on muslin on panel. 30 × 36", 76.2 × 91.4 cm.
A painting/print of various tall trees against a night sky adorned with stars: in the center is a sort of clearing; to its right one of the trees bends sideways.

night path, 2019

Mixed media on muslin on panel. 24 × 28", 61× 71.1 cm.
A wooden signpost with the word "BEFORE" pointing to the right, set against a white background.

BEFORE, 2019

Wood. 24 × 17 × 2", 61 × 43.2 × 5.1 cm.
A beaver dam (?) around a pool of blue water. In the background, a dark, shady wood.

night dam(n), 2020

Mixed media on muslin on panel. 30 × 36", 76.2 × 91.4 cm.
Mountainview

mountain view

Mixed media on muslin on panel 24” x 28”
Godseyes

gods eyes

Mixed media on muslin on panel 16 1/2” x 24”
Godseyediptych

gods eyes diptych

Mixed media on muslin on panel 21” x 48”