Deborah Thomas

Backstory

2010-06-13T18:54:00.000-07:00

So, the path to an art exhibition is not always as straight as one might imagine -- I thought I would share a few of the details here about how "Arroyo Seco Watershed and Surrounding Area" has fared in its evolving life as an eco-conscious installation about water, specifically about the water supply in my immediate area.

"Arroyo Seco" began life as an idea I had for an outdoor installation along the Pasadena gully of the same name. I was going to hang a shower curtain between some trees along the water that you could look through at the scenery in the area.

That never materialized, but I continued to think about the watershed and also about the conventions of traditional landscape composition that artists typically rely on.

I wanted to do something that would make people look at the natural surroundings differently and think about their relationship to water and the water supply with greater awareness.

Then winter came -- a very, very rainy winter. And the Arroyo Seco changed. It became inundated with water. I walked everywhere and shot all kinds of photos, experiencing more water in the usually dry gully than anyone might otherwise imagine possible. Long story short, I took lots of photos and used patterns of them on the shower curtain.

I have shown variations of "Arroyo Seco" in going on five exhibition spaces (Los Angeles, Riverside, Chicago and -- upcoming -- San Francisco). First I used only one shower curtain -- and learned the hard way that the colors of the photo ink were so fugitive that all of the pictures turned sepia when exposed to direct sunlight.

This was actually a lucky accident, because while I was reconstructing the shower curtain I decided to double its size -- and it looked a lot better with two curtains circling the rod instead of one. More recently, I sent it off to Chicago for a national show and somewhere during the installation process a small but crucial bit of hardware from the rod went its own separate way. As a result, as I discovered when I arrived at the gallery opening in Chicago, the curtain was installed without the vertical bar, a key visual element to the work. Oh, well. . . . Since, after subsequently combing the internet, I have lost all hope of finding another part, I will need to replace the whole rod -- perfect timing again, since the installation site in San Francisco has extremely high ceilings and the installers have been worried about how to properly hang "Arroyo Seco" in the space. So the third version of the work will involve a 108" D-shaped rod (big enough to display both curtains) that screws into the wall. No photos yet of course, but it will be interesting to experience the third version of this work.

"Arroyo Seco Watershed and Surrounding Area" will go on display as part of the exhibition Blue Planet: works exploring social, political and economic issues related to water, sponsored by Pacific Region Women's Caucus for Art and juried by Kim Abeles, at SOMARTS Cultural Center, 934 Brannan Street, San Francisco from June 19 through 26. Artist reception June 26, 5-7 pm.

June, and showered with shows --

2010-06-07T11:19:00.000-07:00

So in the midst of piles of finals and final papers and projects that are coming my way from my students, I am also penciling in a profusion of openings to the exhibitions where my work will be showing this month. First, since I just mentioned Blue Planet and Elements, I can now fill in the details of my own participation -- my installation "Arroyo Seco Watershed and Surrounding Area" was chosen (by juror Kim Abeles) for the exhibition Blue Planet at SOMArts, San Francisco, and I will also be moderating a panel called "What is Eco-art? Past, present and future" during the Elements conference at the David Brower Center in Berkeley. This is the third city where my installation has been shown -- here in Los Angeles, in Chicago, and now in San Francisco. I feel so cosmopolitan! The nice thing is that it helps me rationalize a few travel opportunities that are breaking up the cycle of work.

"Elements" and "Blue Planet"

2010-03-19T08:08:00.000-07:00

Recently I have found myself in the thick of organization plans for WCA's Elements: An Eco-Art Conference to be held in Berkeley in June. Although I have been interested in artistic approaches to landscape/nature/the environment since I started drawing naive mountain landscapes as a child in Western Pennsylvania, I have only recently discovered the contemporary art movement, Eco-art, that meshes environmental activism, an ecological perspective, and one's art practice. A combination of innovative and pragmatic approaches characterizes most eco-art work. Most eco-artists appear to be strongly motivated to serve the environment (for example, Lynne Hull actually lists bird and animal species as her clients) and to communicate effectively with the public (community participation has become a key feature of many projects). See my new PowerPoint to find out more about eco-art: "Eco-art: What Is It?"

Dovetailing with the conference, the Pacific Region of Women's Caucus for Art is also sponsoring an exhibition focusing on the theme of water called Blue Planet, curated by Kim Abeles at SOMArt in San Francisco. For more information on the conference and the exhibition visit the ecoartactivism blog.

From the Center: Now!

2010-01-27T18:06:00.000-08:00

"From the Center: Now!" opened at Woman Made Gallery in Chicago last Friday -- I wasn't there, of course, so it was an interesting exercise to think about what went on and how everything must have looked. The exhibition was juried by Lucy Lippard, who revisited the question she posed in her 70s anthology, From the Center: Feminist Essays on Women's Art. It was kind of exciting to think that someone who wrote a book I had just been referring to while teaching my contemporary art class had chosen my work for a show! I don't really present myself as a feminist (too much to do walking the walk, I suppose), so it is interesting to me that my work keeps showing up in women's shows ("Material Girls" at the Riverside Art Museum a few years ago).

In any event, I will be going to Chicago on February 10 and will be at the artists' opening on February 12, in addition to attending the Women's Caucus for Art and College Art Association national conventions. I have never been to Chicago (which seems particularly odd for someone who went to school in Ann Arbor) and I am really looking forward to spending time at the Art Institute with all the Impressionist paintings and whatever they are exhibiting in the new wing. I also signed up for a Frank Lloyd Wright architectural tour planned for CAA members, and there will be lots of other interesting things to do.

Oh yes -- the overcoat is ready, the scarves and gloves assembled, and the new boots are broken in!

News of the World

2009-09-15T10:02:00.000-07:00

Time marches on and I am currently in a show at PCC, where I teach Contemporary Art. The show is called "News of the World: A fraction of the artists who teach at PCC" -- it will be up through September 30 at the Pasadena City College Art Gallery. Here is the front of the card:

The interesting thing about this is that it features a photo of Howard Carter and his team of archaeologists opening the fourth chamber of King Tut's tomb. What this has to do with the show I'm not sure, but in two weeks I will be teaching Egypt in the other class I teach, the art history survey from ancient to modern. . . .

The show itself is a group show that includes a lot of very interesting work by other adjuncts in the Visual and Media Arts Division at PCC. I submitted a small photo/textile piece called "Arroyo rakusu". Rakusus are symbolic, handsewn bib-like wearable patchwork squares that stand in for robes and symbolize Buddhists' refuge in the precepts. I like to think about taking refuge in nature, and the greenery of the Arroyo Seco is refreshing so soon after the fires.

"Bringing the Past to Light" recap

2009-09-11T06:43:00.000-07:00

I had a blast curating this show. The artists were great and I was very happy with my own piece, too. To start with, here are some pictures (thanks, Kevin Hass) of my installation, "Dirty Laundry" -- it is a clothesline hung with domestic linens covered with photos of some of the various women in Charles Lummis's life, "acknowledging the experience and points of view of the many women who comprised Lummis's domestic circle, supporting the household with their work and devotion."

Lummis had three wives and was a notorious womanizer. Harvard educated, Lummis is best known as a man of letters in love with the West and a founder of the Southwest Museum in Highland Park. He launched his career during the 1870s by walking from Ohio to Los Angeles in street shoes, on his own, and writing a book about the experience. He also married three times, brought a daughter from another liaison to live with him, and collected dozens of photographs of the women in his life who entertained him and kept him on track. I wanted to bring their contributions to light by including their words and images in my installation.

Little vacation from blog --

2009-09-11T06:37:00.000-07:00

So, I confess, Facebook has sucked my attention away from keeping this poor blog current!! I am not really a dedicated "blogger" in the "blogging community" anyway -- but I still like to have a place to post things about art activities and other things. My last post was in April -- even though there is no catching up, here are a few posts that cover what's been going on. . . .

"Bringing the Past To Light" is coming --

2009-04-30T06:08:00.000-07:00

So the show at the Lummis home is moving forward -- and we have an electronic announcement.

In addition to doing a lot of curatorial work on the show, I have started my own piece. Here is a description of my project:

"My installation will be designed to mark both conceptual and physical space in behalf of the women who helped to create and sustain the lifestyle of Charles Lummis, man of letters and sometimes notorious bohemian resident of the Arroyo during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. These women included his three wives, Dorothea Rhodes, Eva Frances Douglas and Gertrude Redit; an out-of-wedlock daughter, Bertha Belle Page, who cared for him in his old age; and numerous and frequently nameless assistants, “secretaries” and maids who supported the household through their work and devotion to Lummis and his extended family. These women bore the burden in various ways of Lummis’s reputation as a lifelong womanizer, and in “bringing the past to light” it is important to acknowledge their experiences and points of view as members of Lummis’s domestic circle."

I am going to string a clothesline in an area of the grounds near the bedroom and hang a series of pillowcases on the clothesline, each with a photo image and/or a caption ironed on – each photo or caption referencing the experience or remarks of one of the women in Lummis’s orbit relating to their experience of life with Lummis.

Bringing the Past To Light

2009-04-05T08:10:00.001-07:00

A photo (by Kevin Hass/Cidne Hart) of the Charles Lummis home in Highland Park, site of the AAC's spring installation project. Lummis was a Harvard-educated man of letters who walked to Los Angeles during the late 19th century and proceeded to learn about the local indigenous culture and live a cultivated life in his own singular fashion. This is the home he built by hand from concrete and river rock -- the center of his literary activities, explorations into photography, and "noises" (meetings of his bohemian salon). We have received over two dozen proposals and are looking forward to an intriguing show. Details to come.

Artist Talk at Avenue 50

2009-03-21T07:58:00.000-07:00

As a spin-off of the exhibition "SAA Squared", Avenue 50 Studio is hosting an artists' talk tomorrow (Sunday, March 22) from 2 to 4 -- if you haven't seen the show yet, it is a collection of works in "fiber art" that are all smaller than 12" x 12." Makers range from highly skilled fiber artists to mixed media artists (like me) who use fabric in their work. I will be there and look forward to an interesting discussion!

Fiber show at Avenue 50

2009-03-05T08:40:00.000-08:00

I have some new textile work based on domestic memories and a Mother Goose theme at Avenue 50 Studio gallery -- please join us at the opening on Saturday, March 14 in conjunction with NELA Art Night:

“SAA SQUARED”
A JURIED EXHIBITION OF SMALL WORKS IN FIBER

Reception: MARCH 14, 2009 from 7-10 pm

Jurors: Connie Rohman, curator and fiber artist; Kathy Gallegos, Director of Avenue 50 Studio

Honorary Juror and fiber artist Gloria Molina, LA County Supervisor will present the Juror's Choice Award

Nalia Aladdin Sanders, Madeline Bajracharya, Patt Blair, Shelly Brucar, Roberta Chalfy Miller, Phaedra Cheydleur, Joanell Connolly, Maureen M. Cox, Ann Darling, Raoul De La Sota, Jessica Drummond, Jamie Fingal, Dellis Frank, Georgia Freedman-Harvey, Gwen Freeman, Cicely Gilman, Sally Gould Wright, Cidne Hart, Marka Harwell-Bentley, Heather Hoggan, Ruby Horansky, Harumi Iida, Rebecca Janes, Gwen Jones, Georgianne Kandler, Smadar Knobler, Phillippa Lack, Linda Laird, Carol Larson, Susan Lasch Krevitt, Mary Ellen Latino, Sandra E. Lauterbach, Mavis Leahy, Ann Loveless, Pam Lowe, Regina Marzlin, Kathleen McCabe, Linda Miller, Uwimana Moore, Alison Muir, Diane Nunez, Mirjam Pet-Jacobs, Pamela Price Kiebaum, Janett Rice, Ann Ridge, Mary Beth Schwartzenberger, Cynthia St. Charles, Meredith Strauss, Deborah Thomas, Karen Valderrama, E. Vereycken, Binah Waite-Williams, Carol Ann Waugh, Deborah Weir

“SAA Squared”, a small works fiber art exhibition, opens at the Los Angeles art gallery, Avenue 50 Studio on March 14th. Extending through April 5th in the gallery’s main space, this unique fiber arts exhibition is sponsored by the Surface Art Association, an arts organization that promotes fiber art and provides support for local fiber artists.

The “SAA Squared” exhibition gives the viewer a compelling introduction to fiber arts. “There is a current explosion in the use of fiber and textiles in the field of contemporary art”, says Connie Rohman, co-juror, “Fine artists are moving into fiber art because they can do things that they can’t with other mediums, and art quilters have moved away from their traditional roots to approach their work with an arts perspective”.

Artists from all over the world were invited to create small fiber works that are 12” square. Jurors Kathy Mas-Gallegos, director of Avenue 50 Studio, Connie Rohman, curator and fiber artist, and Honorary Juror and fiber artists Gloria Molina, LA County Supervisor, chose work from Australia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, and Spain, as well as from all over the United States.

“SAA Squared” will be on exhibition from March 14th to April 5, 2009. LA County Supervisor Gloria Molina will present the Juror’s Choice Award at the opening night reception. The opening reception, from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm, Saturday March 14, is part of NELA’s Second Saturday Art Tour in the Highland Park and Eagle Rock neighborhoods of Los Angeles.

Where: Avenue 50 Studio, Inc., 131 N. Avenue 50, Highland Park, CA 90042

When: Saturday, March 14, 2009 from 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm

Gallery hours: Tuesday through Thursday 10 am – 12 noon, Saturday and Sunday 10 am – 4 pm

Duration: March 14 through April 5, 2009-02-21

For further information, please call 323-258-1435 or visit www.avenue50studio.com

The Re-Discovery Tour

2008-11-25T06:01:00.000-08:00

Sunday was the Arroyo Arts Collective Re-Discovery Tour, and a good time was had by all, as far as I know. I showed work at Suzanne Siegel's home at the foot of Mt. Washington -- Suzanne's daughter Rachel Siegel and Kay Brown were also guest artists at our location. I installed some of my domestic-themed works in Suzanne's vintage bathroom -- one panel of my "Arroyo Seco Watershed and Surrounding Area" shower curtain in front of the bathtub and several textile pieces on washcloths and a bathmat. Also a few diapers from my "porte bonheur" installation, "Road Trip" (my car window piece), and some other textile pieces in the kitchen. I was pleased with the relatedness of the work and look forward to making more of the textile pieces soon. As soon as I have photos of the new pieces I will post them -- photos of the shower curtain and diaper installations are already here somewhere on this blog! (look under installations).

$2 Show at i5

2008-07-11T07:32:00.000-07:00

Recently I was invited to participate in a show at the i5 Gallery in the Brewery arts complex in east Los Angeles. Mat Gleason is curating the show -- he sent out $2 bills to one hundred artists and asked them to make wall mountable artwork. The $2 bill has the face of Thomas Jefferson on it -- so naturally I thought of Sally Hemings. I did a little background research -- which turned out merely to be scratching the surface -- on the whole controversy over the parentage of Sally's children. I discovered a lot of interesting things -- for instance, that Sally was the half-sister of Jefferson's wife, and only one-eighth African. So the free children and the slave children shared three quarters of their genetic profile and closely resembled each other. Several of the slave children walked off the plantation once they grew up and subsequently "passed" for white, living elsewhere where their origins were unknown. Others remained near Monticello, living as African-Americans. I decided to decorate my $2 bill with information about the Hemings side of the family, as well as a picture of one of Jefferson's descendants.

The i5 Gallery is located at 2100 N. Main Street #A-9, Los Angeles 90031. The exhibition opens July 11 with a reception July 12 from 8-10 pm. All works are priced at $200, $100 going to benefit the gallery. It should be interesting.

Christmas Past at Future

2008-03-12T17:59:00.000-07:00

Christmas Past at Future was a satisfying show -- it took nearly eight hours to install and the cards and other ephemera attracted a lot of positive attention from interested viewers. HOWEVER, chaos broke out! While I was in St. Louis there were heavy rains in Los Angeles, a leak appeared above the display wall in the gallery, and Amy had to quickly take the show down -- before I got a chance to photograph it. Fortunately a week or two ago I was able to turn up one snapshot taken by a friend of a friend. Here is an edited version that shows about half the wall:

Christmas Past at Future

2007-12-08T08:43:00.000-08:00

Tonight my installation opens at Future Studio, Amy Inouye and Stuart Rapeport's gallery in Highland Park (aka Home of Chicken Boy). Here is a description of the show taken from the press release:

After World War II, sending Christmas cards became a popular way to wish friends well and to keep up with news of new homes and growing families. While dismantling the contents of her parents’ house, artist Deborah Thomas discovered a trove of boxes filled with every Christmas card her parents ever received, beginning in 1948. Appreciating the design and fabrication of these cards – many including singularly whimsical images common to that time, custom family representations, and individualized engraving -- she decided that the cards deserved to be displayed once more during the holiday season. In addition to revisiting holiday festivities of the 50s and 60s, her installation will be an exploration of memory, time and self-perception. Model trains, music and other ephemera will also add to the mid-century holiday atmosphere during “Christmas Past at Future.”

Future Studio is located at 5558 Figueroa in Highland Park; the show opens tonight (December 8) from 7 - 10; also open on Sunday afternoons from noon to 4 or by appointment (323 254-4565 or amy@futurestudio.com.

Arroyo Arts Collective Discovery Tour

2007-11-14T09:58:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, October 18, I will be participating in the Arroyo Arts Collective 15th Annual Discovery Tour. I will be showing some of my recent mixed media pieces and a few surprises at Suzanne Siegel's home at 4563 Marmion Way in Highland Park, from 10 to 6. For more information on the Tour, visit the Arroyo Arts Collective website. If you would like to see examples of my work online, please visit my website. (Both links are listed on the right of this page.) The Tour is always an adventure, but if you don't have time for the whole thing, please feel free anyway to drop by Suzanne's to say hello.

Buddha garden design project

2007-11-12T11:55:00.000-08:00

I have been working for a number of months on a garden design project for a client who wanted a steep slope outside her dining room windows to be turned into a garden. The garden has finally been planted, though there are still some details to be taken care of -- filling the pot with white roses, weather treating the bronze Buddha statue, and letting the plants take hold. I have been documenting the project all along -- here are some photos --

Before -- showing the rampant ivy, weeds and sprinkler pipe:

After -- a close-up of the Buddha on its stone platform surrounded by succulents and groundcovers.

A song from Grease

2007-11-11T22:56:00.001-08:00

For most of September and October, Olivia was living and breathing "Grease" -- her first musical (she was stage manager). The girls did a very professional job with the show, and the music stays in your head for days. Here is one of the songs I liked best from the production.

Cry Me a River

2007-10-25T12:08:00.000-07:00

Edith Abeyta invited me to be a part of her upcoming project, "Salty: Three Tales of Sorrow" -- comprised of three installations, "Cry Me a River," "Cake & Soup" and "Heart Follows Bird." "Cry Me a River" will run at El Camino College Art Gallery, Torrance, CA, November 19 through December 14. Each of 50 women artists is decorating a hankie provided by Edith along with a souvenir blue ballpoint pen to use on the hankie. My contribution is called "Six Generations of My Family Lived in Fayette County, Pennsylvania" and includes photos from Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania featuring the falls of the Youghiogheny River, a vintage photo of my family sitting on a rock near the river in 1955, and a quotation from a recent environmental study stating that the watershed area of the Youghiogheny has the highest acid rain levels in Pennsylvania. Here is a photo of my hankie:

Upcoming show at La Sierra University

2007-10-02T18:22:00.000-07:00

So "Arroyo Seco Watershed and Surrounding Area" will go on display starting Monday, October 8 at Brandstater Gallery, La Sierra University, in Riverside. It is part of an exhibition called "The Art and Science of Climate Change," which runs through November 1.

Opening Reception -- October 8 from 5:30 - 7:30 pm, with an exhibition program starting at 6:15. For more information, the Gallery phone number is 951 785-2959. Hours: Mon - Thurs 10 am - 4 pm; Sunday 2 - 5 pm.

Driving directions: Exit 91 east at Pierce Street and turn left or 91 West at Magnolia Ave and turn right at Pierce Street. Merge onto Riverwalk Parkway and continue until Sierra Vista Avenue and turn left. Proceed about 1/4 mile then turn left onto Carmine Street. Left onto Blehm Street which curves into Quiet Lane. Turn left into the first driveway. The visual art center and Brandstater Gallery are on the right.

New installation statement

2007-08-16T12:52:00.000-07:00

Summer has been a bit more relaxing -- although I have some projects in process, things have calmed down since my dad's house sold. As far as art goes, I have been focusing on putting together a new installation portfolio. Although I have been working pretty steadily on one or another installation project over the past few years, for some reason I never actually thought of my installations as a coherent body of work, which, in fact, they are. So I wrote a new artist statement referring specifically to the installations. Here is is:

"In my installations I enjoy experimenting in both conceptual and material dimensions, working with themes such as family and the remembered past, or local landscape and the environment. I create each piece by combining photographic images (either from my own or found photos), familiar domestic objects (a shower curtain or diapers, for example), and layers of found text. Imagery, word play and metaphorical suggestion work together visually and poetically, conjuring multidimensional meaning. In addition, each piece is grounded in lived experience – retrieved from memory and/or presented to engage the viewer intimately and move beyond the constraints of intellect to a revised perspective.
In constructing these pieces I usually establish formal groupings of the collected images and materials according to patterns and repetitions only marginally related to the content of the piece. Although the contents of each installation are mundane and typically domestic or local, the pieces themselves speak to larger social or environmental concerns. My goal is to bring the viewer with me as I shift emphasis away from subjective content and personal affect to a more suggestive and universal zone of perception neither purely representational nor non-representational."

New photo of Arroyo Seco shower curtain installation

2007-08-16T12:45:00.001-07:00

Here is a view of "Arroyo Seco Watershed and Surrounding Area," my installation from the EcoArt show at Barnsdall.

Just back from Pittsburgh

2007-05-10T17:55:00.000-07:00

I am still jet-lagged and in re-entry phase after my week-long trip to Pittsburgh. The purpose of the trip was to wrap up the sale of Dad's house that has been empty for nearly two years. (I have reported sporadically on the process of cleaning out the house and discussed some of the art projects that have come out of the experience in earlier entries.) Here are a few photos of the house now:

We ended up removing any trace of green and gold from the kitchen -- cabinets were painted, countertop replaced, and vinyl floor replaced with Mexican tile. Meanwhile, we flunked the sewer test. The whole backyard needed to be dug up so that the line could be replaced. Notice the bulldozer. I packed up the last boxes, sent off the last packets of memorabilia saved by my mother, and left to explore Western Pennsylvania for the rest of the week.

Another table picture

2007-04-23T11:06:00.000-07:00

This time, Easter dinner.

EcoArt installation - shower curtain redux

2007-04-23T10:02:00.000-07:00

The EcoArt show now at Barnsdall Junior Gallery is a group show with art by women interested in environmental issues. I was able to revisit "Arroyo Seco watershed and surrounding environs" -- a water/shower curtain project that I began during the "Intimate Geography" show last spring. This time I doubled the square footage of the shower curtain(s) and made some adjustments to the fabrication process in hopes that the ink won't discolor. I also spent a lot of time modifying the arrangement of the photos and documentation. The photos were taken during the torrential rains of 2005, in and around the Arroyo Seco and Los Angeles River. I added documentation from various water companies in the area and a map, plus some photos of swimming pools to provide contrast with water flowing from the mountains into and through its channel.

Here are a few closeups of the new shower curtain:

Here is some catalog commentary that explains the purpose of the piece:

My aim was to create an installation in which the viewer is prompted to recall an intimate relation with water (the shower), and where the scale (tiny) and number of photographs (multiples) challenge assumptions about traditional picturesque landscape presentation. I also hope questions about landscape and power, the act of looking, and specific local concerns about water rights come to mind. Who “owns” local water? Who channels or uses it at what price and to what end? By manipulating the way landscape is depicted and viewed, I want to question where a viewer stands, both literally and figuratively, in relation to landscape -- and what a more enlightened role might be in relation to the natural environment itself.