Dena Tollefson was born in 1965 and is a native Iowa professional artist living and working in Cedar Rapids, Iowa with her husband and two teenage sons.

Tollefson graduated from Iowa State University in 1988 and lived in Dallas Texas before returning to Iowa in 1991 where she developed her unique, highly textured painting style.
Tollefson is represented by five art galleries across Iowa and one in Illinois. She is a Certified Chartpak/Grumbacher Fine Art Painting Workshop Instructor.

Museum, Corporate & Selected Private Collections

• Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
• Farm Credit Services Omaha, Nebraska
• Marion Arts Council Marion, Iowa
• St Luke’s Hospice Cedar Rapids
• StarcomMediaVest CEO, Chicago, Illinois
• St Luke’s hospital, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
• Lil’ Drug Stores CEO, Scottsdale, Arizona
• Mableton Bank, Mabelton, Georgia.

Tollefson's work hangs publicly and in private collections throughout the US. She has exhibited nationally in juried shows in Texas, New York, California and Georgia and has won awards at the national and local level, as addition to participating in 24 gallery group shows. She is a member of Allied Artists of America and the Oil Painters of America.