Dean F. Thomas

“My greatest challenge as a landscape painter in the 21st century seems to be working within the constraints of the shrinking modern world. I envy the New Hope School artists as I imagine them roaming the countryside virtually carefree and unfettered by the private property signs and new home developments with no aesthetic appeal cropping up at every turn."
-Dean F. Thomas

Dean F. Thomas is a printmaker turned painter. After graduating with a B.F.A. in printmaking from what is now Rowan College in New Jersey, he left the east coast and moved to Colorado. After a little over a year, he became uninspired by the sameness of the west coast and moved into the New Hope area. He has lived in Bucks County since 1995, and continues to be inspired by the nature in Bucks County, including the Delaware River.

Thomas began creating hand engraved plates for monotype and hand colored watercolor prints. From plates, he moved into painting landscapes in watercolor. Since about 2000, he paints only in oils. Thomas has been inspired by the painters in the Hudson River School. He has also been influenced by the impressionists and tonalists of the New Hope School of painters.

Thomas has exhibited at several galleries in Bucks County, including the Travis Gallery in New Hope, the Tinicum Arts Festival, the Coryell Gallery in Lambertville and in New York City.

Education
Glassboro State/Rowan College, B.F.A., Major in Printmaking and Secondary Study in Painting, Glassboro, New Jersey, 1983

Teachers and Influences
Thomas Cole, Asher B. Durand, John Kensett, George Inness of the Hudson River School; Daniel Garber, William Lathrop of the New Hope School; Courier and Ives
Teachers: Dr. Herbert Appelson, Gerry Monroe, Joseph Tischler, Daniel Chard; Father David Thomas

Affiliations and Memberships
Philadelphia Watercolor Club

Connections to Bucks County
Since 1995, Dean Thomas has lived and worked in the Bucks County area, exhibiting at galleries in New Hope, Lambertville, and Doylestown.

Major Solo Exhibitions
Speaking of Now, Travis Gallery, New Hope, PA, 2007
Reflections in Time and Light, Travis Gallery, New Hope, PA, 2006
New and Familiar Paths, Travis Gallery, New Hope, PA, 2005
A Year on the Tohickon, Stover Myers Mill Gallery, Tinicum, PA, 2004
Waterways to the Delaware, Travis Gallery, New Hope, PA, 2003
Oils of Bucks County, Michelyn Gallery, New Britain, PA, 2002
Landscapes of our Times, Michelyn Gallery, New Britain, PA, 2000
Recent Engravings, September Moon Gallery, Haddon Heights, NJ, 1990
Dry Point Engravings, Department of Environmental Protection Gallery, Trenton, NJ, 1990

Selected Group Exhibitions
Bucks County and the Philadelphia Sketch Club, Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, 2010
Coryell Gallery Annual Juried Show, Lambertville, NJ, 2008
Holiday Exhibit, DesChamps Gallery, Lambertville, NJ, 2007
Tinicum Arts Festival, Tinicum, PA, 2005, 2006, 2007
Alumni Show: Glassboro/Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ, 2007
Mainly Maine, Sherry French Gallery, Manhattan, NY, 2006
Premier Painters of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, High Street Design Gallery, Millville, NJ, 2005
Realism in Paintings and Sculpture, Sherry French Gallery, Manhattan, NY, 2004, 2005
Holiday Group Show, Travis Gallery, New Hope, PA, 2003
Fall Art Exhibit, The Barn Studio Gallery, Doylestown, PA, 2002
9th Anniversary Galaxy Show, The Court House, Doylestown, PA, 2002
8th Anniversary Galaxy Show, The Court House, Doylestown, PA, 2001
As We See It, Michelyn Gallery, New Britain, PA, 2001
The Millennium Show, Traditional Landscape Painters of Bucks County Bianco Gallery, Buckingham, PA, 2000
The Millennium Show, Traditional Landscape Painters of Bucks County The Salmagundi Club, New York, NY, 2000

Major Collections
Gloucester County Art Collection, NJ
Gloucester County College, Sewell, NJ
Glassboro State College, Glassboro, NJ
Atlantic County Art Collection, NJ
Camden County Art Collection, NJ
Salem Community College, Pennsville, NJ
Association of College Unions, Lawrenceville, NJ
Weyerhauser Corporation, Barrington, NJ
Department of Environmental Protection, Trenton, NJ

Major Awards
Tinicum Arts Festival 2005, 2006
Cape May County, NJ, Cold Spring Village, Festival of the Arts
Gloucester County, NJ Cultural and Heritage Commission 1987, 1988
Atlantic City Art Center, Atlantic County, NJ, Juried Show
Camden County, NJ, Cultural and Heritage Commission, Juried Show at The Hopkins House, 1990
Haddon Fortnightly Juried Exhibition, Haddonfield, NJ, 1992
Philadelphia Watercolor Club 75th Annual Juried Show, Noyes Museum, Absecon, NJ, 1992
Parthenia J. Vandermark Award, Glassboro State College, 1983
ACU-1 Regional Art Competition of College Unions, 1983