An Alabama native, Tom Root studied drawing and painting at Lyme Academy of Fine Arts in Old Lyme, Connecticut, under Aaron Shikler N.A. and Deane G. Keller, and at Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida. Tom began his career desiring to become part of a contemporary figurative revival. He loved historic portraiture but disliked what he saw as formulaic in commercial portraiture. He set out to reestablish the connection between contemporary portraiture and fine art. Toward this goal, Tom works in the traditional style, painting from life. The immediacy of these portrait sessions results in paintings that capture a physical likeness animated by a rich inner life. A professional figure and portrait painter for over thirty-five years, Tom has work in private and public collections across the country, including the New Britain Museum of American Art (New Britain, CT) and the Tennessee State Museum (Nashville, TN).