Quiet reflection painting8/18/2023 ![]() The museum describes the painting as the final work in Thomas’s Space series and cites “Starry Night,” the 1889 painting by Vincent Van Gogh, as its inspiration. “Starry Night with Astronauts” (1972) is in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. The Smithsonian describes her Space paintings as mostly “large sparkling works with implied movement achieved through floating patterns of broken colors against a white background.” Several are space-related paintings, including “The Eclipse” (1970), “Atmospheric Effects” I and II (1971), and “Celestial Fantasy” (1973). The American Art Museum owns 30 works by Thomas. Two Space paintings are in the collection of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum: “Launch Pad” (1970) and “Blast Off” (1970). Works such as “Apollo 12 Splash Down” (1970) displayed her exuberant use of color and the technical acumen with which she executed countless dabs of paint in rhythmic patterns. Throughout the period, Thomas made Space paintings in her recognizable, expressive abstract style. Over the life of the program (1968-1972), there were 11 space flights. Today not only can our great scientists send astronauts to and from the moon to photograph its surface and bring back samples of rocks and other materials, but through the medium of color television all can actually see and experience the thrill of these adventures,” Thomas said in a 1972 artist statement, which is printed in the exhibition catalog “Alma Thomas.” “These phenomena set my creativity in motion.”Īfter the initial lunar mission, NASA’s Apollo program continued until 1972. “I was born at the end of the 19th century, horse-and-buggy days, and experienced the phenomenal changes of the 20th century machine and space age. She began to make Space paintings, works that imagined the moon walk, views of the Earth’s surface from outer space, and Apollo’s water landings. Thomas was among the fascinated and channeled her interest into her work. My children and grandchildren are scattered around the country.The astronauts were exploring a new frontier 240,000 miles away and the rest of the world could only imagine the experience, but had some insight because of the images shown on television. I live in Atlanta with my yellow lab, Noah. I moved to Atlanta in 1987 for residency at Emory University School of Medicine and fell in love with the South. In 1983, I graduated from the University of Detroit with a BS in Chemistry and in 1987, graduated from St. I had a dream! It woke me from sleep and guided me to buy a cake-icing spatula and to paint with it! The very next day, I bought one and my joyful, wonderful and creative journey to the present day began. And then in January 2016, something magical happened. In the early ‘90s, I read Betty Edward’s Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain and was astonished by my right brain! I’d lived in my left-brain for so many years I had no idea my creativity was seeking expression! Life, as it is wont to do, intervened and there were several years when I didn’t paint at all. Being entirely self-taught, my journey to the present has had glories, bumps, pauses and lengthy stalls. Painting and creating have been part of my life for as long as I can remember. I retired from Emergency Medicine in October 2017 and began painting full time, committing daily to artistic expression. My experiences caring for others in crisis were both difficult and exciting, filled with joy and despair, extreme contradictions that impact my artistic approach dramatically. My life as an Emergency Medicine Physician began in 1990. The works of Vermeer, Van Gogh and Fantin-Latour are among my favorites and are sources of great inspiration. ![]() Each of my paintings is an emotional self-portrait and I feel most validated when someone comes to a sudden stop in front of one of my works and gasps in recognition of the emotion it elicits in them. I use color and texture and perspective, and a scene beautifully cast in light and shadow to create powerful imagery with a sense of peace. My work is tranquil and peaceful, quiet and serene with a touch of heartache. Like the colors of the rainbow, these painted emotions range from bright and joyful to calm and quiet to solitary and somber. My paintings represent respite amid the chaos of life and are depictions of my emotions. For me, the process is a working meditation.
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