Thomas Roark used to work as a part-time portrait artist for Lee’s Gallery at the Mall of America. He began going to amateur life drawing groups to improve his skills. When he heard about Art 4 Shelter from another artist at a life drawing co-op, he resonated with the fundraiser’s direct impact on people experiencing and transitioning out of homelessness. He donated four pieces in 2022 and has submitted more to this year’s Art 4 Shelter.
Thomas sees too many people with unmet needs slipping through the cracks in the Twin Cities. “People need warm, dry places to sleep, clothes, good food, and meaningful work,” he says.
He often notices unhoused people camping near Open Arms, the Twin Cities nonprofit where he regularly volunteers. However, Thomas has an even closer connection to the issue of affordable housing.
“Forty years ago, my wife, infant son, and I lived for half a year in a downtown SRO,” Thomas says, referring to a form of affordable housing. That experience informs his work for Art 4 Shelter.
Contributing to A4S is a way for Thomas to work toward housing justice for the homeless. The artist, who is a fan of Buckminster Fuller, has ambitious plans to paint a better future. However, right now he’s focusing on composition and control.
His primary medium is ink. Thomas uses Micron pens, a brush, his fingers, and an Exacto knife to delineate light and dark.
“I like textures and a sense of things receding. So far, I have been most successful achieving this with pen and ink.”
His A4S submissions focus largely on meditative landscapes. Thomas seeks to recreate in these pieces the mood of “a beautiful patch of woods” in which he spent a great deal of time as a young man. Indeed, his work evokes a deep, connected sense of place. Wander into one of his works and linger a while in the pines and tall grass. Just over a tree-lined ridge lies an expanse of possibility, open to all who are willing to go deeper into the wilderness.
