To truly experience nature, landscape artist Thomas Paquette needs to feel a scene as much as see it. Only then is he confident of being able to present a “human sense of the earth.”

A 1985 BSU graduate who now lives in Pennsylvania, Paquette ranks among the premier landscape artists in America. More than 50 of his canvases in oil or gouache were displayed in various locations across the country in September alone, including a one-person exhibition at the prestigious Gross McCleaf Gallery in Philadelphia, Pa. Globally his works have graced 16 U.S. embassies, most recently in Moscow.

“On Nature’s Terms,” a 60-piece exhibit commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act, just concluded a yearlong national tour.

“My highest goal is that the finished painting holds the same level of interest, power, ecstasy or whatever I originally experienced,” Paquette said. “The painting is a living, organic thing – deeply inspired by, but not owned by, its original subject.”

As an aspiring artist, he chose Bemidji State because he loved the north woods environment. On campus, he recalled a challenge from Marley Kaul, an art professor who mentioned that very few artists survive solely by painting. Paquette vowed to become one.

“It isn’t just coming up with the dream,” he said. “You have to somehow manage your books, deal with galleries, and take care of all kinds of business outside the studio. Artists are not wired that way.”

Looking ahead, Paquette is painting scenes along the Mississippi River, from Bemidji to New Orleans, where he can sense as much as see the view.