Eliza K Thomas

Bio

EDUCATION
2008	School of Visual Arts, Continuing Education Division, "Summer in the Berkshires: Drawing and Painting" with Roberto Juarez. Hudson, NY.
2006	Anderson Ranch Arts Center, summer workshop: "Patterns in Perception, Intimate Drawing from Nature" with Mary Hambleton. Snowmass, CO.
2005	Six month intensive study with artist Laurent Baude. Lagnes, Provence, France.
2005	The Art School of the Austin Museum of Art, painting workshop with Malou Flato, Austin, TX.
2005	Anderson Ranch Arts Center, summer workshop: "Contemporary Drawing, Expanding the Boundaries" with Sharon Louden and Theresa Chong. Snowmass, CO.
2003	The Art School of the Austin Museum of Art, painting workshop with Malou Flato. Austin, TX.
2003	Anderson Ranch Arts Center, summer workshop: "Basic Color" with Allison Stewart. Snowmass, CO.
1996	B.A., Barnard College, Columbia University; Phi Beta Kappa, Summa Cum Laude. New York City, NY.
1992	Parsons School of Design, "Summer Intensive Studies: New York". New York City, NY.

EXHIBITIONS
2008	"Five x Seven" Art Splurge and Exhibition. Arthouse at the Jones Center, Austin, TX.
2008	"Texas Hall of Fame Film Awards" Benefit for Austin Film Society. Austin, TX.
2008	Ladybird Johnson Gala and Silent Art Auction. Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center, Austin, TX.
2007	"Postcards From The Edge". Visual AIDS, New York City, NY.
2007	"Red Hot Red Dot" Group Exhibit. Women and Their Work, Austin, TX.
2007	Austin Art Start Studio Tour. Austin, TX.
2007	"Super Summer Group Show" Group Exhibit. Grand Contemporary, Lafayette, LA.
2007	Ladybird Johnson Gala and Silent Art Auction. Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center, Austin, TX. (Donation)
2006	"Red Hot Red Dot" Group Exhibit. Women and Their Work, Austin, TX.
2006	"RED" Group Exhibit. Wally Workman Gallery, Austin, TX.
2006	Two Person Show with Honora Jacob. Wally Workman Gallery, Austin, TX.
2006	Ladybird Johnson Gala and Silent Art Auction. Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center, Austin, TX. Piece chosen as invitational cover image.
2000	"Five x Seven" Group Exhibit. Texas Fine Arts Association, Austin, TX.

COLLECTIONS
The University of Texas School of Law

RESIDENCIES
2008	Vermont Studio Center, January. Artist residency grant.
2006	Vermont Studio Center, December.

Commentary:
Although my work is not blatantly political, it is the result of a sustained observation of the natural environment, a place whose beauty and value is threatened by our increasingly urban and industrialized culture. I feel tremendous compassion and awe when I look at that world and those feelings inevitably enter as subjects of my paintings. Therefore, I hope a viewer of my work experiences a more intimate connection with the natural world and that by personalizing this connection, they may experience the world at large in a more sensitive and thoughtful way.

I set out to document the intimacy of nature in the form of 'visual poems' about the spirit of a place. I strive to create visual counterparts to the geography, ecology, and culture of the places where I paint, and to explore and reveal the spiritual landscape that exists within the physical landscape.

All the Hemispheres

Leave the familiar for a while.
Let your senses and bodies stretch out

Like a welcomed season
Onto the meadows and shores and hills.

Open up to the Roof.
Make a new water-mark on your excitement
And love.

Like a blooming night flower,
Bestow your vital fragrance of happiness
And giving
Upon our intimate assembly.

Change rooms in your mind for a day.

All the hemispheres in existence
Lie beside an equator
In your heart.

Greet Yourself
In your thousand other forms
As you mount the hidden tide and travel
Back home.

All the hemispheres in heaven
Are sitting around a fire
Chatting

While stitching themselves together
Into the Great Circle inside of
You

By HAFIZ, 14th century Persia
Translated by Daniel Ladinsky

P. O. Box 302283 Austin, TX 78703

info@elizakthomas.com