Barbara Earl Thomas

Updated on Dec 26, 2023

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Name Barbara Thomas

Books Storm Watch: The Art of Barbara Earl Thomas, Never Late for Heaven: The Art of Gwen Knight

Barbara earl thomas

Barbara Earl Thomas (born 1948) was the executive director of Seattle's Northwest African American Museum from 2008 until 2013 and is a noted painter and writer.

Artist Barbara Earl Thomas Mentors 3 Treehouse Youth

Background

Barbara Earl Thomas Barbara Earl Thomas retrospective looks back at 30 years of artists

Thomas was the granddaughter of southern sharecroppers who migrated to Seattle in the mid 1940s. She is a Seattle native. She graduated from the University of Washington (U.W.) in 1973, then studied at the University of Grenoble in France (1976) before returning to U.W. to complete a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1977. Her parents died in a fishing accident in 1988.

Career work

Barbara Earl Thomas paperhammerbannerjpg

Thomas was the executive director of the Northwest African American Museum (2006–2013). She stepped down from her full-time job in January 2013 and has become NAAM's Deputy Director/Major Gifts Officer, a part-time post.

Artwork

Barbara Earl Thomas Why We Need Barbara Earl Thomas Now Slog The Stranger

Thomas studied art under Jacob Lawrence. She works in many mediums including doing egg tempera paintings and linocuts and woodblock prints. In 2013, she had a solo show at Paper Hammer where she displayed 14 prints from two series, The Reading Room and The Book of Fishing. Thomas has exhibited artwork at the Seattle Art Museum, The Tacoma Art Museum, and Whatcom County Museum and in museums throughout the US.

The Judkins Park light rail station, located adjacent to the Northwest African American Museum, will feature artwork from Thomas as part of Sound Transit's public art program.