Born in 1959 in Long Branch, New Jersey

Tom Hoitsma is a multidisciplinary artist who lives and works in Dallas. Raised just outside of New York City, Hoitsma pursued a fine arts degree at Skidmore College, where he had the transformative opportunity to intern with the celebrated feminist artist Miriam Schapiro and study under Dr. Harry Gaugh, a leading authority on abstract expressionist painters.

These experiences profoundly shaped Tom's artistic vision and continue to influence his sculptures and paintings today.

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After graduating from Skidmore in 1981, Tom worked for the prestigious Barbara Gladstone Gallery in New York City. Immersed in the vibrant SoHo art scene of the early 1980s, he was inspired by a burgeoning group of artists, including Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Cindy Sherman, and Jenny Holzer. Despite these contemporary influences, Tom's primary inspiration remains rooted in the abstract expressionist movements he explored during his college years.

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In the mid-1980s, Tom relocated to Dallas, Texas, where he expanded his creative pursuits to include documentary filmmaking. His diverse body of work now encompasses metal wall sculptures and large-format gestural abstract paintings, alongside award-winning music television series, such as the enduringly popular documentary series "The Texas Music Scene", which continues to air throughout the country.

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Hoitsma's work is rooted in lived experience. In 2019, a powerful tornado tore through his Dallas neighborhood, reducing homes to debris and reshaping the physical and emotional environment. The metal wall sculptures that followed, many constructed from neighborhood remnants, emerged as responses to chaos, reconstruction, human resilience, and an innate instinct to rebuild.

Over time, this inquiry expanded into painting, where structure gives way to bloom, flow, and movement. Sculptural thinking remains the foundation, while painting has become the primary site of exploration - resilience emerging not as a fixed outcome, but as an ongoing process shaped by memory, material, and transformation.

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Underlying this shift is the idea that nature is never experienced universally but filtered through individual reality and memory, an internal landscape Hoitsma now translates through paint. The paintings and sculptures operate as two expressions of the same visual logic: angular tension and structural balance in the metal works find their counterpart in the layered movement, compression, and release of paint. Nature is not treated as ornament or motif, but as an active force - persistent, unpredictable, and impossible to contain.

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Personal Journey and Artistic Process

Tom's journey is marked by resilience and reinvention. Raised in a tumultuous family environment, Tom found solace in art, leaving New Jersey for art school in New York. A horrendous car wreck at age 30 led to a life-threatening hepatitis C infection, yet these setbacks kept him grounded and grateful. He turned his life around, battling and overcoming addiction, and his belief in finding beauty in adversity has never left his work.

Tom's process is deeply personal and reflective. He finds joy in the little moments and remains focused on his art and family, particularly his children, Cruz and Pilar, who are his greatest source of pride.

In addition to his visual art, Tom continues to make music with his '80s cover band, The Rewind, showcasing his multifaceted creativity and enduring passion for the arts.

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Selected Exhibitions and Milestones

Solo Exhibits:

Craighead Green Gallery, Dallas (2019 & 2020), Christopher Martin Gallery, Dallas (2021), DVH Artworks, Dallas (2023), and Unchained.Art Contemporary Gallery, Austin (2026).

His work is currently shown across nine galleries throughout the United States.

Group Exhibits:

Art Aspen (2019), Art NY, NYC, and Art Miami (2021).

Corporate Collections:

Hotel Intercontinental, New York, and the Westin Hotel, Fort Worth, TX.

Benefits:

Recognized as a featured artist in numerous benefits, including the Art For Advocacy Annual Benefit and the 5x5 Annual Benefit for Missing and Exploited Children in Dallas, TX.

Press:

His work has been featured in Architectural Digest, Luxe Interiors + Design, and Patron Magazine. He was the cover story of fyi50+ magazine (Spring/Summer 2024).

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