Walker Art Studio

What began as a desire to paint the country school where Tom Walker attended kindergarten has grown into a series of paintings of one room Iowa country schools. Tom began his art endeavors as the only kindergartner in his school, so it is fitting that his paintings would eventually lead him back to his country school roots.

Walker began painting with acrylics in 1965 and never stopped. Primarily a painter of nature and wildlife, Tom won the 1982 Iowa Waterfowl Stamp competition and the 1982 Iowa Habitat Stamp competition. Over the years he participated in many art shows as a painter or, on many occasions, a judge. He has donated to many conservation organizations as well as humanitarian causes.

Before a school is painted, the building site is visited. Most often, the locations are corn or soy bean fields and lack any singular quality that would hint that children once livened up the scene, as they marched through their early years. Tom occasionally uses old photos that he took from 1969-1980, because it was obvious that the schools were falling to ruin or being demolished. Old photos of the schools from private photo collections also provide the basis for the paintings, but the memories of former students usually provide the soul.

The symbolic crows are included, in each school painting, for their intelligence and their roles in fables and myths. Each print comes with a brief history and an explanation of the crows, as they apply to each specific painting.

All art prints are produced in the studio at Tom and Sandy Walker's home in rural Shelby County. Their home is located southeast of Harlan, just north of Prairie Rose State Park.

The prints are on 300 gsm 100% cotton rag paper that is made in the USA. Each school edition is limited to 55 signed and numbered prints. Each is printed individually, inspected, signed and numbered by Tom. Other school paintings are in progress.

Tom Walker, artist