ALMA THOMAS
Modern Artist
The first time I was introduced to Alma Thomas and her work was through a research assignment, and I was immediately fascinated by not just her visual art techniques and legacy in the historical art world of Washington, but by her entire story. I used Google to figure out where her artwork was on display and make immediate plans to see her work. I was disappointed when I arrived at The Phillips, in Washington, DC because I had missed the larger exhibition of her work, but I still stood for a while in front of the current painting they had on display. It was large and made up of dabs and streaks of paint in a pattern that utilized and showcased Thomas’s understanding of color theory. I was struck by how the naming of this painting was able to invoke in me a vision, of these marks on canvas, exactly what she wanted me to see. My discovery of Alma was at a point in my life when I was avidly researching and studying African American visual artists, their lives and works. In this discovery, I began to understand her impact in the art world, how she was able to navigate it as a woman and an African American, and how her legacy lives on in Washington, and throughout the world…