I’m excited to announce that I’m a recipient of Montalvo Arts Center’s triennial Sally and Don Lucas Artists Fellowship Award. Every three years, by discipline, the Lucas Artists Program (LAP) invites a distinguished panel of international nominators to identify up to three emerging, mid-career, or established artist who have the potential to become significant voices of their generation. Please join me in congratulating the other exceptional artists selected for the LAP Award.
Finalist for Dr. Maya Angelou Sculpture at the San Francisco Public Library
I’m excited to announce that I’m a finalist for the Dr. Maya Angelou sculpture at the San Francisco Public Library. Congratulations to Kenyatta A. C. Hinkle and Jules Arthur, who are also finalists for the project. The sculpture launches San Francisco’s new initiative to include more historic women in public spaces, as specified by an ordinance calling for 30 percent of nonfiction figures depicted in works of art to represent women on city-owned property.
The proposals will be on view at the San Francisco Public Library from July 17-31 and are open to public comments. View the proposals online here.
The project was featured in The San Francisco Chronicle in “Statue of Maya Angelou comes into sharp relief as SF diversifies public art” by Heather Knight. Read the article here.
Left to right: Jules Arthur (finalist), Maya Angelou’s son, Guy Johnson, Kenyatta A.C. Hinkle (finalist), and yours truly.
"Outwin 2019: American Portraiture Today" - National Portrait Gallery Finalist
I’m super excited to announce that my work will be included in “The Outwin 2019: American Portraiture Today” as a finalist of the National Portrait Gallery’s 2019 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition. Opens Oct. 26. Stay tuned!
Announcing SFMOMA's Acquisition of "Cora McHaney"
Cora McHaney, 2018. Conté pencil and graphite on paper. From the series, Mugshot Portraits: Women of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
I’m thrilled to announce that Cora McHaney (2018) from the series, Mugshot Portraits: Women of the Montgomery Bus Boycott , has been acquired by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art as part of their permanent collection.
Kala Master Artist Award - 2019 Recipients
Humbled to receive the Master Artist Award along with this year’s other Award recipient, Masako Miki, at Kala Art Institute. Congratulations, Masako!
Thank you Archana Horsting and the rest of the KALA staff for this award. And thanks to everyone who came out to KALA’s 2019 Spring Auction to support this incredible Bay Area Institution.
Available Online: Authority and Agency in the Art World Podcast
Dorothy Davila, S. Sayre Batton, Lava Thomas, Apsara DiQuinzio, and Patricia Maloney.
This January, I participated in the panel discussion, “Authority and Agency in the Art World,” moderated by Patricia Maloney, Critic and Curator, and hosted by Untitled Art Fair and ArtTable. Other panelists includeded S. Sayre Batton, Oshman Executive Director at the San Jose Museum of Art, Apsara DiQuinzio, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at BAMPFA. The panel investigated different forms of authority and agency in the art world. It can be streamed online through soundcloud here.
Lecture at Texas Christian University
Lecture: Visiting Artist Series
Texas Christian University School of Art
Room 132, Moudy North | 2800 S. University Drive | Fort Worth, TX
January 28, 2019 | 2pm
I’ll be giving a lecture about my practice at Texas Christian University on Monday, January 28th, as part of TCU’s Visiting Artist Series. Hope to see you there.
Untitled Panel: Authority and Agency in the Art World
Authority & Agency in the Art World
Panel Discussion & Podcast
Untitled Art Fair
Pier 35
1454 The Embarcadero | San Francisco, CA
January 18, 2019 | 6pm
I'll be participating in a panel discussion investigating different forms of authority and agency in the art world. From the institution to the collective, the catalogue to your Twitter feed, how do women exercise power and visibility in their field? Other panelists are S. Sayre Batton, Oshman Executive Director, San Jose Museum of Art, and Apsara DiQuinzio, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, BAMPFA. The panel will be moderated by Patricia Maloney, Critic and Curator.
For more information, click here.
Lecture + Black Renaissance Noire Launch
Lecture + Black Renaissance Noire Book Launch
New York University | Silver Center, Jurow Lecture Hall
100 Washington Square East, Room 101A | New York, NY
November 9 | 7:00-9:00pm
East Coast friends, please join me for a discussion of Mugshot Portraits: Women of the Montgomery Boycott at NYU's Institute of African American Affairs in conjunction with the launch of Black Renaissance Noire, Volume 18 Issue 3. Readings and reception with: Roger Aplon, Bob Holman, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, Sharon Olds, and Ronald Ollie.
Learn more | Limited seating, please RSVP: nyuiaaa-cbvc-events@nyu.edu
RENA BRANSTEN GALLERY AT EXPO Chicago 2018 | BOOTH 319
Mrs. A. W. West, Senior, graphite and conté pencil on paper, 2018. Image credit: Phillip Maisel
EXPO Chicago 2018
Rena Bransten Gallery | MAIN Booth 319
Navy Pier, Chicago
September 27th-30th
Mrs. A.W. West, Senior from Mugshot Portraits: Women of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, will be at EXPO Chicago with Rena Bransten Gallery alongside works by Dawoud Bey, Jonathan Calm, Oliver Jackson, and Vik Muniz.
Mugshot Portraits: Women of the Montgomery Bus Boycott in the SAN FRANCISCO Chronicle
Thank you Charles Desmarais for mentioning my work in the SF Chronicle.
“I had the opportunity last year to see, in process, some of the drawings to be included in this exhibition. During an open house at the Headlands Center for the Arts, where Thomas was an artist in residence last year, visitors crowded her studio. Their intent was to glimpse, unfinished, what promised to be powerful documents of a historic moment of effective resistance. This will be our first chance to see the artist’s completed tribute to the unsung church ladies, homemakers and local pillars of the community who became heroes on national scale.” —Charles Desmarais, The San Francisco Chronicle
Mugshot Portraits: Women of the Montgomery Bus Boycott is opening at Rena Bransten Gallery this Saturday, September 8th, from 5-7pm. The exhibition will be on view through October 27th.
Work in progress image of "Mugshot Portraits: Women of the Montgomery Bus Boycott" from my Fall 2017 Artist in Residence at the Headlands Center for the Arts. Image credit: John Janca
Resistance Reverb: Movements 1 & 2 in the SAN Francsico Chronicle
Image credit: Colson Griffith Photography
Thank you, Charles Desmarais, for featuring Resistance Reverb: Movements 1 & 2, in your review of Be Not Still, Part 2, at the di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art.
“Lava Thomas chose as her theme the idea of solidarity, producing a soundless tribute to music — a shower of red tambourines suspended from the ceiling — as a metaphor for community. The tambourine, a wall text points out, is an easily learned instrument that plays a part in the traditional music of numerous cultures around the world. Thomas lightly imposes a reference to her own African American heritage here and there, but keeps the whole an open-ended invitation to unity, as a wall of mirrored instruments incorporates the viewer, the room and, by extension, the world.” —Charles Desmarais, The San Francisco Chronicle
The exhibition will be on view through December 30.
Finalist for the 2018 San Francisco Artadia Award
Left to right: Koak, Indira Allegra, Dana Hemenway, Lava Thomas, K.R.M. Mooney.
It's an honor to be a finalist for the 2018 San Francisco Artadia Award with such great company--congratulations to the other four finalists: Koak, Indira Allegra, Dana Hemenway, and K.R.M. Mooney.
Pennsylvania Academy of the fine arts Acquires Prints by the African American Artists of Paulson Fontaine Press
I'm excited to announce that the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts has acquired a collection of prints by the African American artists of Paulson Fontaine Press, including Ficticious Self-Portrait (2006) and Xavier (2006). Read more
Ficticious Self Portrait (2006)
Hardground etching on Somerset white textured paper
29.5" x 28"
Xavier (2006)
Hardground etching on Somerset white textured paper
29.5" x 28"
The Portrait Show at Rena Bransten Gallery
Detail of Pink Portrait (Self) on view at Rena Bransten Gallery through August 18th.
THE PORTRAIT SHOW
RENA BRANSTEN GALLERY
1275 MINNESOTA STREET | SAN FRANCISCO
ON VIEW JUNE 23 - AUGUST 18
RECEPTION JULY 7TH | 5-7 PM
I have new work on view in The Portrait Show, a group exhibition exploring portraiture from traditional to non-traditional approaches in a range of media. This diverse grouping of works spans the humorous to the somber, nodding to the rich history of the portrait while aiming to expand its boundaries. The exhibition includes works by Robert Arneson, John Bankston, Dawoud Bey, Jonathan Calm, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Rupert Garcia, Jennifer Greenburg, Leiko Ikemura, Oliver Lee Jackson, Erik Johnson, Arnold Kemp, Bovey Lee, David Linger, Hung Liu, Tracey Moffat, Martin Mull, Tameka Jenean Norris, Raymond Pettibon, Naaman Rosen, Thomas Ruff, Salomé, Amparo Sard, Peter Saul, Tracey Snelling, Kumie Tsuda, Tara Tucker, John Waters, Lewis Watts, and Henry Wessel, among others.
Read the press release here.
"Be Not Still: Living in Uncertain Times," Part 2 - Opening at di Rosa June 30
Detail of Resistance Reverb: Movements 1 & 2, on view at the di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art.
BE NOT STILL: LIVING IN UNCERTAIN TIMES, PART 2
DI ROSA CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY ART | 5200 SONOMA HWY, NAPA
OPENING | JUNE 30, 2018
VIP + MEMBERS RECEPTION | 3-5 PM
GENERAL PUBLIC RECEPTION | 5-7 PM
Please join me for the opening reception of "Be Not Still: Living in Uncertain Times" Part 2, at the di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art on Saturday, June 30th. The two part exhibition addresses concerns of our present social and political moment through newly commissioned works of art that engage audiences in ideas that matter. Other artists in the exhibition are Lexa Walsh, Ranu Mukherjee, and Victor Cartagena.
Personal to Political: Celebrating the African American Artists of Paulson Fontaine Press
Personal to Political: Celebrating the African American Artists of Paulson Fontaine Press
Bedford Gallery | 1601 Civic Dr., Walnut Creek, CA 94596
Admission $5 | Free for members
April 15th - June 24th
My work is included in Personal to Political: Celebrating the African American Artists of Paulson Fontaine Press, on view now through June 24th at the Bedford Gallery in Walnut Creek. The exhibition will travel nationally through 2021. Featuring Edgar Arceneaux, Radcliffe Bailey, McArthur Binion, Gee's Bend Quilters (Louisiana Bendolph, Mary Lee Bendolph, Loretta Bennett, Loretta Pettway), Lonnie Holley, David Huffman, Samuel Levi Jones, Kerry James Marshall, Martin Puryear, Gary Simmons, and yours truly.
Watch online | SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM PANEL WITH ALFREDO JAAR, SAM GILLIAM, AND MODERATOR E. CARMEN RAMOS: "Contemporary Artists in Conversation with History: 1968"
Footage from the SAAM panel, Contemporary Artists in Conversation with History: 1968, is now available online. The event commemorated the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Watch it here and visit SAAM's video archive for more information.
Alfredo Jaar, SAAM Deputy Chief Curator E. Carmen Ramos, Lava Thomas, and Sam Gilliam. Photo © Bruce Guthrie
E. Carmen Ramos, Alfredo Jaar, Sam Gilliam, and Lava Thomas
Contemporary Artists in Conversation with History: 1968 at SAAM
CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS IN CONVERSATION WITH HISTORY: 1968
SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM
F ST NW & 8TH ST NW, WASHINGTON, DC 20004
APRIL 4 | 6:30 - 7:45
I am participating on a panel with Sam Gilliam and Alfredo Jaar at the Smithsonian American Art Museum on April 4. The event, Contemporary Artists in Conversation with History: 1968, falls on the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. The conversation will be moderated by SAAM Deputy Chief Curator, E. Carmen Ramos.
In addition to discussing Requiem for Charleston, I'll be discussing new work currently in progress: A series of portraits based on mugshots of women who helped lead the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Rena Bransten Gallery | PULSE MIAMI BEACH 2017
PULSE MIAMI BEACH
RENA BRANSTEN GALLERY | BOOTH N-200
INDIAN BEACH PARK
4601 COLLINS AVENUE
MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA
DECEMBER 7-10, 2017
Looking Back 1 will be included in the Rena Bransten Gallery booth at PULSE Miami Beach this year, alongside works by Dawoud Bey, Bovey Lee, Hung Liu, Robert Minervini, Vik Muniz, John Preus, and Nobuyuki Takahashi.
For more information, contact:
Trish Bransten, trish@renabranstengallery.com / 415.602.1776
Jenny Baie, jenny@renabranstengallery.com / 415.652.3486
Rena Bransten Gallery
Minnesota Street Project
1275 Minnesota St.
San Francisco, CA 94107
415.982.3292
info@renabranstengallery.com