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where she lives and from the politics that affect her life. She also sees the process of making artwork as creating order in the universe, or as she noted in 1990, as attempts to exert some control over chaos. Thomas's parents drowned in a boating accident in 1998. Even before this tragedy, fishing, long an important family activity, was important in her work. Art Critic
Michael Upchuch has described Thomas' iconography as "besieged human figures in loving embrace, crows as trickster-companions-cum-predators, books as capacious homes for the mind to inhabit." Since the late 1990s, her characters, still important in her work, have been increasingly subsumed by landscape, sea, and sky.
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Thomas works in many mediums, including egg tempera painting, glass, cut paper, linocut and woodblock prints, sculpture, and installation. Her work is intended to tell stories. In addition to her personal history and experiences, Thomas has described her work as coming from observations of the things
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In addition to working as an artist, Thomas is a writer and arts administrator. 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. Wanting to spend more time on her
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and
Louisiana. The artist recalls being surrounded by family members who constantly made things during her childhood. From the age of eight, she was constantly drawing and painting. She also copied images from newspapers and books, giving the results to her mother.
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The first in her family to attend college, Thomas began with a vague goal to become a "physical therapist," eventually realizing that a major in art was a possibility.
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who migrated to the
Pacific Northwest in the 1940s. Born in Seattle, WA in 1948, she is among the first generation in her family born outside of
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Mitchell Museum, Mount Vernon, Illinois: "Talking Back to the Storm: New
Figurative Work by Barbara Thomas", 1990.
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Mitchell Museum, Mount Vernon, Illinois: "Talking Back to the Storm: New
Figurative Work by Barbara Thomas", 1990
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and
Washington's State Art Collection. She also created "The Story House" (2009), a public art commission at The
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629:"The Story House (2009) by Barbara Earl Thomas, located at The Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA"
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72:(born 1948) is an American visual artist, writer, and arts administrator based in Seattle.
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655:"Barbara Earl Thomas retrospective looks back at 30 years of artist's inventive works"
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as part of
Documents Northwest: The PONCHO Series. Includes an essay by Vicky Halper.
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281:"Testimonies: Barbara Earl Thomas", exhibit August 20, 1998 - January 24, 1999 at
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art, she stepped down from her full-time executive director job in
January 2013.
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in France in 1976, she returned to her undergraduate alma mater, completing her
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ArtsWA, Washington's State Art
Collection, www.arts.wa.gov/my-public-art-portal
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ArtsWA, Washington's State Art Collection, www.arts.wa.gov/my-public-art-portal
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in Olympia, Washington that is part of Washington's State Art Collection.
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Rowell, Charles Henry (2004). "An Interview with Barbara Earl Thomas".
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1998 & 2000: The Seattle Arts Commissions award for new non-fiction
599:"Artworks by Barbara Earl Thomas in Washington's State Art Collection"
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University of Washington School of Art + Art History + Design alumni
491:"Barbara Earl Thomas' linocuts blend the surreal with the lyrical"
198:, Bellingham, Washington: "Barbara Thomas: The Fallen House", 1994
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677:"The SCAD Museum of Art Celebrates the Legacy of Jacob Lawrence"
431:. City Arts Online. Archived from the original on April 17, 2014
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216:: "Barbara Earl Thomas: Heaven on Fire" (retrospective), 2016
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2016: Washington State Governor's Arts & Heritage Award
465:"Northwest African American Museum | Art, History, Culture"
222:, Savannah, GA: "Jacob Lawrence: Lines of Influence," 2017
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Francine Seders Gallery, Seattle: 1984, 1990, 1984, 1998
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Thomas' work is in the permanent collections of the
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238:2016: Irving and Yvonne Twining Humber Award
210:: "Testimonies: Barbara Earle Thomas", 1998
171:Storm Watch: The Art of Barbara Earl Thomas
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429:"Mayor's Arts Award: Barbara Earl Thomas"
374:"The Reading Room by Barbara Earl Thomas"
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235:2013: Mayor's Arts Award, Seattle
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782:United States portal
739:on February 24, 2019
683:. September 29, 2017
372:Lieberman, Michael.
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577:"Art Zone segments"
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708:The Seattle Medium
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