VIRTUAL STUDIO VISIT: EMILY C. THOMAS
AUG. 13, 2022
VIRTUAL STUDIO VISIT: EMILY C. THOMAS
AUG. 13, 2022
Emily C. Thomas creates art at the intersection of painting, sculpture, performance, film and installation. Her work has been characterized as eco-feminist. Taking cues from animistic philosophies, she engages with issues of body politics and planetary consciousness. Applying techniques from experimental therapies such as self-hypnosis and psychodrama, in her films and performances Thomas assumes transpersonal identities of an enigmatic, feminine persuasion: a Private Eye, Bride of the Ocean, and Abbess of the Galactic Center. In the worlds she constructs, domestic and mundane particulars become prima materia for re-enacting cosmogenesis. Washing machines are akin to interstellar wormholes, breaking wind generates aetheric ectoplasm, and primordial soup is stewing in the kitchen.
These photos document the making and installation of Emily's recent mural, situated on the porch wall of the newly opened South Point Grocery in the South Main Arts District of downtown Memphis.
2022, sign board, acrylic, resin 10' x 23'
This project was facilitated through the UrbanArt Commission and South Point Grocery, with special thanks to the James Family, Brett Hanover, Wendy Young, Will McGown and Silvan Laan.
Emily C. Thomas, Virtual Studio Visit, August 2022: Early in the design process a cardboard scale model of the wall and paper cut-outs provide a hands-on approach to trial ideas for a potential composition.
Emily C. Thomas, Virtual Studio Visit, August 2022: A digital rendering of the surface depth shows where the sign board will be layered to create a subtle 3D, pop-out effect on certain wall elements.
Emily C. Thomas, Virtual Studio Visit, August 2022: An example of a vector file used to CNC route the sign board cut-outs.
Emily C. Thomas, Virtual Studio Visit, August 2022: Freshly painted giant sunflower seeds.
Emily C. Thomas, Virtual Studio Visit, August 2022: Close up of what will be pollen on a strawberry blossom.
Emily C. Thomas, Virtual Studio Visit, August 2022: Painting the heirloom varieties of sunflowers as cogs of the "power plant" machine. *Photo taken by Wren Laan
Emily C. Thomas, Virtual Studio Visit, August 2022: Watching the protective coating dry on the completed sunflower panels.
Emily C. Thomas, Virtual Studio Visit, August 2022: Passionflower painting in progress.
Emily C. Thomas, Virtual Studio Visit, August 2022: Silvan Laan atop scaffolding, assists during installation on a cold, late winter day.
Emily C. Thomas, Virtual Studio Visit, August 2022: Emily holds up the final piece to be installed. *Photo taken by Silvan Laan
Emily C. Thomas, Virtual Studio Visit, August 2022: Detail of passionflower. Passiflora incarnata can be found growing nearby along the Wolf River Greenway and is the state wildflower of Tennessee.
Emily C. Thomas, Virtual Studio Visit, August 2022: A view of the newly installed mural.
Emily C. Thomas, Virtual Studio Visit, August 2022: A pipe from the building runs through the sunflower panel, linking the wall mural to the surrounding architecture.
Emily C. Thomas, Virtual Studio Visit, August 2022: Located in the South Main Arts District of Memphis the mural features representations of native and heirloom plants interconnected to form a "power plant" composition based off of MLGW electricity substations that dot the cityscape.
Born in Memphis, TN, Emily C. Thomas earned a BFA from New York University in 2009 and a MFA from UC Santa Barbara in 2015. Her art has been exhibited nationally at Elizabeth Foundation of the Arts, Anthology Film Archives (NYC), Highways Performance Space, Pehrspace (LA), Art, Design & Architecture Museum (Santa Barbara), Crosstown Arts (Memphis), and internationally at Bonnefantenmuseum (Maastricht, NL) and the Reykjavík International Film Festival (IS).
* images courtesy of the artist
