Barbara Earl Thomas

Barbara Earl Thomas
Barbara Earl Thomas
Born 1948
Seattle, United States
Nationality American
Education University of Washington, University of Grenoble
Website http://barbaraearlthomas.com/

Barbara Earl Thomas (born 1948[1]) is a noted painter and writer, and was the executive director of Seattle's Northwest African American Museum from 2008 until 2013.

Early life

Thomas was born 1948, outside of the southern United States.[1] He is a Seattle native, and one of the first in her family. A granddaughter of southern sharecroppers who migrated to Seattle.[2] Her grandparents were skilled in handicraft, as was her mother.[3] Fishing is a tradition Thomas's family brought with them when they migrated from the South, and continued in their new home in the Northwest.[4] In 1988 Thomas's parents died in a drowning accident while fishing.

Education

Thomas graduated from the University of Washington (U.W.) in 1973, then studied at the University of Grenoble in France (1976) before returning to U.W. to complete a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1977.[1] She studied art under Jacob Lawrence, Michael Spafford and Norman Lundin while at the University of Washington and cites them as the artists "who demonstrated that art was something that you do as your life's work."[5][3]

Career

Thomas was appointed deputy director of the Northwest African American Museum in 2005, before the museum opened to the public, and moved up to the position of executive director in 2008.[6] Wanting to spend more time on her art, she stepped down from her full-time executive director job in January 2013 and has become NAAM's Deputy Director/Major Gifts Officer, a part-time post.[7]

Artwork

Thomas works in many mediums, including egg tempera painting, cut paper, and linocut and woodblock prints. In 2013, she had a solo show at Paper Hammer where she displayed 14 prints from two series, The Reading Room and The Book of Fishing.[4][8] Thomas has exhibited artwork at the Seattle Art Museum, The Tacoma Art Museum, The Whatcom Museum, and in museums and galleries throughout the US.[1]

The Judkins Park light rail station, located adjacent to the Northwest African American Museum, will feature artwork from Thomas as part of Sound Transit's public art program.[9]

Books

Storm Watch: The Art of Barbara Earl Thomas (published 1998 by University Washington Press)[2]

Selected solo exhibits

  • Art Center Gallery, Seattle Pacific University, "For Women Who Sleep With Crocodiles", 1983[1]
  • Francine Seders Gallery, Seattle: 1984, 1990, 1984, 1998[1]
  • Mitchell Museum, Mount Vernon, Illinois: "Talking Back to the Storm: New Figurative Work by Barbara Thomas", 1990[1]
  • Whatcom Museum of History and Art, Bellingham, Washington: "Barbara Thomas: The Fallen House", 1994[1]
  • Skagit Valley College, Mount Vernon, Washington: "A Fire in the Heart", 1995[1]
  • Seattle Art Museum: "Testimonies: Barbara Earle Thomas", 1998[1]
  • Bainbridge Island Museum of Art: "Barbara Earl Thomas: Heaven on Fire" (retrospective), 2016[10]

Private and public collections

Awards

  • 1998 & 2000: The Seattle Arts Commissions award for new non-fiction[11]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Program for "Testimonies: Barbara Earle Thomas", exhibit August 20, 1998 - January 24, 1999 at Seattle Arts Museum as part of Documents Northwest: The PONCHO Series. Includes an essay by Vicky Halper.
  2. 1 2 "Storm Watch". University of Washington Press. Archived from the original on May 21, 2015. Retrieved May 20, 2015.
  3. 1 2 Rowell, Charles Henry (2004). "An Interview with Barbara Earl Thomas". Callaloo. 27: 735–754. JSTOR 3300841.
  4. 1 2 Graves, Jen. "Diet of Worms". The Stranger. Retrieved May 20, 2015.
  5. ↑ Lieberman, Michael. "The Reading Room by Barbara Earl Thomas". Seattle Pi. Retrieved May 20, 2015.
  6. ↑ "Northwest African American Museum | Art, History, Culture". www.naamnw.org. Retrieved 2018-03-25.
  7. ↑ Upchurch, Michael. "Barbara Earl Thomas' linocuts blend the surreal with the lyrical". Seattle Times. Retrieved May 20, 2015.
  8. ↑ Vozza, Valerie. "Art Zone segments". Seattle Channel. Retrieved May 20, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Light Rail Review Panel: Judkins Park Station" (PDF). City of Seattle Design Commission. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
  10. ↑ Michael Upchurch (2016-07-06). "Barbara Earl Thomas retrospective looks back at 30 years of artist's inventive works". Seattle Times. Retrieved 2016-12-05.
  11. ↑ Manitach, Amanda. "Mayor's Arts Award: Barbara Earl Thomas". City Arts Online. Retrieved May 20, 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.