Painting at US Embassy in Ottawa
March 2022
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Shown: Onoko (Lower Falls), 54 x 38 inches, oil on linen
Onoko (Lower Falls) has been selected by Ambassador David L. Cohen and US State Department’s Art in Embassies curator Camille Benton, to be installed at the US Embassy for the Ambassador’s tenure in Ottawa, Canada (2022-2025). See here some of the other 40 paintings which the US State Department has borrowed or purchased over the last few decades for exhibitions in 21 diplomatic missions around the world. |
New triptych commission
March 2022
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Shown: Light in the World, 120 x 60 inches, oil on linen This triad of new paintings titled Light in the World was commissioned as a tribute to the mission and founder of a philanthropic organization. It will be installed in their headquarters this year. |
Upcoming solo exhibition
October 2022
Gross McCleaf Gallery, Philadelphia
Bemidji State University Art Collection
A group of Paquette paintings from ~1990 were gifted to his undergraduate alma mater to establish the newly designated Bemidji State University Permanent Art Collection. More on this in an upcoming newsletter. |
Recent articles [more below; bibliography here]
• A Road Leading Many Places, International Artist, October/November 2021 • Preview: From the North: Thomas Paquette by John O’Hern, American Art Collector, November 2021 <More Bibliography here> |
Latest YouTube video: A Painting’s Progress
August 2021
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A Painting’s Progress, a short video on YouTube, shows some of the concerns and progress in developing a recent large oil painting. LINK for YouTube video |
New video created by Art-in-Embassies
July 2021
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The U.S. State Department’s Art in Embassies program has produced a new video about Thomas and his forty paintings selected for diplomatic installations on five continents. LINK |
New Paquette paintings added to five permanent collections in 2021
These museums acquired new Paquette paintings for their permanent collections this year: • The Brinton Museum (Wyoming) • Wildling Museum of Art (California) • St Bonaventure University Permanent Art Collection (New York) • Susquehanna National Heritage Area (Pennsylvania) • Bemidji State University Permanent Art Collection (Minnesota) |
Paquette painting in Soderbergh film
January 2021
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Phantom Canyon III, one of the Paquette paintings in the collection of Cunard Line’s elegant transatlantic steamship Queen Mary 2, shares the screen several times with Meryl Streep in Steven Soderbergh’s recent film “Let Them All Talk“. Clip: YouTube. The painting was shown for several minutes during seven scenes. A larger Paquette painting in the ship’s collection, Broken-Limbed Tree, is in the adjoining Windsor Suite. News article: From Canvas to Silver Screen, Local Artist’s Work Displayed in Streep, Soderbergh Film. |
Recent exhibitions (for a more complete list of exhibitions, please see CV)
Oct-Nov 2021 SOLO: From the North. Groveland Gallery, Minneapolis, MN January 2021 Group: Selected Works. Gross McCleaf Gallery, Philadelphia, PA June 2020 Group: Here and There. EVOKE Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM April-May 2020 SOLO: Near Horizons. Groveland Gallery, Minneapolis, MN Video here. Feb-Mar 2020 SOLO: Thomas Paquette: From the Surface. James K. Schmidt Gallery, Principia College, Elsah, IL Sep 2019 SOLO: Thomas Paquette: Defined by Water. Gross McCleaf Gallery, Philadelphia, PA Apr 2018 – Jul 2019 SOLO traveling museum exhibition: America’s River Re-Explored – Paintings of Mississippi from Source to Gulf • Minnesota Marine Art Museum – 2018 • Watermark Art Center – 2018 • Dubuque Museum of Art – 2019 Videos for this exhibition: • Introduction to America’s River Re-Explored narrated by Thomas Paquette • Gallery “Walk and Talk” at Minnesota Marine Art Museum |
Recent museum, state, and corporate acquisitions
• In spring 2021, four museums acquired new paintings for their collections: The Brinton Museum (Wyoming), Wildling Museum of Art (California), St Bonaventure University Permanent Art Collection (New York), and Susquehanna National Heritage Area (Pennsylvania). • In fall, 2020, Minnesota Marine Art Museum acquired the major painting, Alma’s Buena Vista, for their permanent collection. • Also in 2020, Erie Insurance purchased the large oil painting, Cleft [60 x 46 inches, oil on linen] for their collection. • Dubuque Museum of Art and Principia College added small oil paintings to their permanent collections in 2019 and 2020. • Fox Creek Crossing [64 x 63 inches, oil/canvas] was acquired in 2019 for the Erie Art Museum‘s permanent collection from a private collector in Miami, FL, who owned the painting since 1990, when it was first shown, at the Bass Museum of Art. • In 2018, the U.S. Department of State acquired the large painting, Headlands [50 x 40 inches, oil/linen] for permanent installation at the breathtaking new NATO Headquarters in Brussels. This and selected other Paquette paintings from twenty Art in Embassies exhibitions can be seen here. Headlands was created for the solo museum exhibition, On Nature’s Terms. |
Recent videos
• The United States Department of State’s Art-in-Embassies program has produced a new video about Thomas and his forty paintings selected for exhibitions at embassies on five continents. Link: YouTube • A short video created by Stratos Media Solutions for InScale Architects about the design of my painting studio. • A short video discussing the small Paquette paintings that are part of the 2020 Brinton Museum exhibition. • A short video introducing the paintings in the 2020 Near Horizons exhibition at Groveland Gallery in Minneapolis. • Video: Introduction to America’s River Re-Explored • Video: Gallery “Walk and Talk” at the opening of “America’s River Re-Explored” at Minnesota Marine Art Museum. |
Recent interviews, articles and reviews [more complete bibliography here]
• Thomas Paquette, WPSU public television, July 2019 • Life on the Mississippi by Rochelle Belsito, American Art Collector, April 2019 • A conversation with painter Thomas Paquette by Katie Carter, KBXE-FM and Minnesota NPR affiliate stations, September 2018 • Artist carries his work and its message to a wide audience by NPR Morning Edition host Jay Moran, WBFO-FM, Buffalo, NY, September 2018 • The Mississippi and More. Thomas Paquette of Warren has his own style by Brian R. Sheridan, Lake Erie Lifestyle Magazine, July 2018 • Atmospheric Lands by John D. O’Hern, American Art Collector, September 2018 • America’s River Re-Explored by Charley Parker, Lines and Colors, July 2018 • What Might Happen? Thomas Paquette’s Mississippi River Odyssey by John Hulsey, The Artist’s Road, June 2018 • Thomas Paquette’s Visions of the Mississippi River by Dean Klinkenberg, Mississippi Valley Traveler, April 2018 <More Bibliography here> |