Alma Thomas

Alma Thomas (1891 – 1978) was an African-American Expressionist painter and art educator. She is considered an "underappreciated artist" who has of recent been recognized for her "exuberant" works, noteworthy for their pattern, rhythm and color. She creates simple patterns with an abstract pointillism motif. In 2009, two paintings by Alma Thomas were chosen by First Lady Michelle Obama, White House interior designer Michael Smith and White House curator William Allman to be exhibited during the Obama presidency.

Workshop

We will engage with a new collage technique to create a colorful abstract work of art inspired by Alma Thomas. By pairing different colors together we will learn about primary, secondary and complimentary colors well as hand-eye coordination.

1. Choose to create a circular or linear artwork on the newsprint
2. Cut out pieces of construction paper and organize them by color
3. Using the pieces of paper and a ruler, collage the small pieces with glue onto a line or circle 5. Get creative and alternate colors for each line or row to create rainbow effect

Materials

• Ruler

• A plate or circular object to draw a perfect circle

• Glue

• Colored Construction Paper (red, blue, yellow, orange, green, purple)

Follow Up

What is abstraction?
What kinds of colors look good together?
How do we mix primary colors and secondary colors in our composition?
What are complimentary colors? How do complimentary colors work?
Which style of composition did you choose to make your artwork?

"Creative art is for all time and is therefore independent of time. It is of all ages, of every land, and if by this we mean the creative spirit in man which produces a picture or a statue is common to the whole civilized world, independent of age, race and nationality; the statement may stand unchallenged."

-Alma Thomas, 1970