Tom Dean is a completely self-taught artist from Great Falls, Montana. His custom one-of-a-kind wood carving sculptures have sold to private owners, corporations and collectors across the United States and Canada. Tom has taken his 40 year passion of fly fishing in Montana and has turned that into another passion of his; hand carving native trout, dragon fly’s, cattails/reeds, frogs, other fish species and more recently full sized bison skulls out of exotic woods from around the world. Including woods from Africa, Australia, Brazil, Central America, Hawaii and elsewhere, setting them into their natural river environments. Tom does not paint the wood nor does he use fillers.
“With every new piece of artwork I carve, I look at each carving with confidence, purpose, passion and creative excellence, so you the collector and buyer, will cherish it for a lifetime.”
What is truly an amazing story about Tom Dean’s wood carvings and his artist talents is that he only recently started to carve in 2007 as a hobby; never having done any type of wood work or carving before. He found his gift and his intense passion in life at the age of 45 and is now reaching new heights with every new piece he creates. He decided to become a full time artist in June of 2008. His artwork, under the name of Milo Creek Carvings Fine Art has exhibited at the esteemed CM Russell Art Auction since 2008 in Great Falls, Montana. He has also been juried into the Western Design Conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming as well as the Western Masters Art Show and Sale. In his first year as a professional artist, he was nominated for the Montana Circle of American Masters, an honor that denoted his significant cultural and artistic stature on both a state and national level for traditional art. He likes to comment that his fish carvings are a “moment in time” in the life of a native trout feeding and living in its environment. This is how Steve Holmes of St. Louis, Missouri describes Tom’s artwork…”Tom’s sculptures are magically different…they take us below the river, under the mystery of the river and put me in a world that looks up at the guy in a drift boat working so hard to see into my world. To see his pieces in person is required…he is the real deal and one of the few people I know who has figured out how to pursue his passion without having to compromise in any way.”