Posted
on September 22, 2016
Born
in Georgia on this date in 1891, Alma Thomas spent most of her adult
life teaching kids.
But
she had a solo exhibit as a painter at the highly respected Whitney
Museum of American Art (the first African American woman to do so), and currently one of her paintings hangs in
the White House.
How
do you connect THOSE dots?
Alma
Thomas was always “into” art, even as a kid. So although she first studied teaching and launched into a career as a teacher, she also studied art at several universities,
earning a BS in Fine Arts and an MA in Art Education. She visited art
teaching centers in Europe, and she did the hard work of making
original art.
More
commendable than all of that, even, Thomas worked to make art a part
of her students' lives. She started a community
arts program, and she encouraged kids to appreciate fine art. She
helped kids make marionettes and perform with them, and she had them
design holiday cards that could be given to soldiers.
Thomas became a part of the Color Field movement, and she got positive reviews for her
minimalist Color Field paintings. Her works were exhibited in several different museums and galleries during her life, and she has been called "under-appreciated" by some art critics. In 2009, about three decades after
her death, First Lady Michelle Obama chose these two Alma Thomas paintings to be displayed in the White House:
Art
critic Holland Cotter said that Thomas's work was perfect for the
Obama administration, because it was "forward-looking without being radical; post-racial but also race-conscious."
If I were able to choose an Alma Thomas painting for my home, I might choose one of these:
 |
| Autumn Leaves Fluttering in the Breeze |
 |
| Eclipse |
 |
| Splash Down |
Also
on this date:
Anniversary
of the Peace of Basel in Switzerland
Plan
ahead:
Check out my Pinterest boards for:
And
here are my Pinterest boards for:
