Laquita Thomson

Laquita Thomson was born in Corinth, Mississippi, and has lived in the southern states including Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida most of her life, with the exception of extensive travel time spent overseas.

Since she was a little girl, Thomson has done art. She has been on the art scene in various capacities for a long time. She shows professionally and her work is in many museum collections. She teaches studio art at Freed-Hardeman University and feels her most important role for her students is to model what it means to be an artist, both as a profession and a lifestyle.

Thomson also teaches art history and has done original research and published articles and book chapters in the field.

Education

ACADEMIC BACKGROUND

M.F.A. Auburn University, Auburn, AL, Painting/Printmaking, 1991

M.A. University of Alabama-Huntsville, Huntsville, AL, History, 2000

M.A. University of Alabama-Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, Art Education, Minor: English, 1974

B.F.A. Mississippi University for Women, Columbus, MS, Studio Art, 1970

OTHER PROFESSIONAL TRAINING

Penland Summer School, Penland, NC, 2007

School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Summer Program, Saugatuck, MI, 1987

Hambidge Center Residency, Rabun Gap, GA, 1986

INDIVIDUAL EXHIBITIONS

Reduction Linocuts, Kentuck Art Center, Northport, AL, 2016

Cyanotypes, Dinah Washington Art Center, Tuscaloosa, AL, 2016

Cyanotypes, Collagraphs and Linocuts, Jan Dempsey Art Center, Auburn, AL 2015

Shadowlands: Cyanotypes 3007-2013, Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, AL, 2014 2014

Reduction Linocuts, State Botanical Gardens of Georgia, Athens, GA 2013

Fabric in Landscape, Union University, Jackson, TN

Fabric in Landscape: United States (2000-2010), Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, AL, 2010

Quilts and Needle Arts, Crossroads Museum, Corinth, MS, 2010

Southern Eden, Artist’s Guild Gallery, Corinth, MS, 2008

Fabric in Landscape Photographs, Memphis Botanic Garden Gallery, Memphis, TN, 2008

Learning to Teach, Teaching to Learn, Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, AL, 2008

Fabric in Landscape Photographs, University of Tennessee-Martin, Martin, TN, 2007

Photographs and Paintings, Artist’s Guild Gallery, Corinth, MS, 2007

Prints and Quilts, Chattahoochee Valley Art Museum, LaGrange, GA, 2007

Faculty Introduction, Varied Media, Freed-Hardeman University, Henderson, TN, 2006

Photographs: Fabric in Landscape, Ashton’s Gallery, Decatur, GA, review and photo in AJC Access Atlanta, 2004

Small Prints, University of Alabama Book Arts Gallery, Tuscaloosa, AL, 2004

Prints and Watercolors, Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, AL, article with photos, Montgomery Advertiser, 29 August, 1999

The New South Africa, Backdrop Gallery, Atlanta, GA, 1998

Encounters: Prints by Laquita Thomson, Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, AL, article with photo, Huntsville News, 9 March, 1995

Through the Dogtrot, Kudzu Cards and Other Southern Games: Prints, University of Alabama-Huntsville, Huntsville, AL, review and photo in Exponent, 9 March, 1995

Some Thoughts on Flora and Fauna: Expressions of the South, Lewis Cooper, Jr. Memorial Arts Center, Opelika, AL, 1994

Recent Work: Paintings and Prints, Heritage Hall Museum, Talladega, AL, 1994

Celestial Happenings, Stars Fell on Alabama, Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, AL, review and photo in Montgomery Advertiser, 1 December, 1991

Reality and Spirit in Beulah Land, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, review in Art Papers (January-February),1991

Paintings, Isabel Comer Museum of Art, Sylacauga, AL, review in Art Papers (July-August), 1987

Drawings and Paintings, Northeast Mississippi Community College, Booneville, MS, 1982

SELECTED JURIED AND INVITATIONAL EXHIBITIONS

Women's Work, Montgomery Museum of Fine Art, Montgomery, AL, 2016

Down Home: Contemporary Southern Masters, Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, AL, 2016

Selections from the Permanent Collection, Mississippi University for Women, Columbus, MS, 2015

Recent Acquisitions, Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS, 2013

Prints by Women: Selected European and American Works from the Georgia Museum of Art, Arts Clayton Gallery, Jonesboro, GA 2011

Revisiting Regionalism, Jule Collins Smith Art Museum, Auburn, AL, catalog, 2011

Eugenia Summer Legacy of Creativity, Mississippi University for Women, Columbus, MS, 2010

Photography Invitational, Troy Plunk Gallery, Freed-Hardeman University, Henderson, TN, 2009

Landscape Linocuts, Space 300, Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, AL, 2008

Imprinting the South, Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, GA, 2007

Atlanta Printmakers Exhibition, Gainesville State College, Oakwood, GA, 2006

Southern Women Artists, Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, AL, 2006

Inventing Nature, Photographs by Georgia Artists, Georgia Perimeter College, Atlanta, GA, 2006

Plein Air Painters of Georgia, Marietta/Cobb Museum of Art, Marietta, GA, 2006

Refusing to Dance Backwards, Spruill Gallery, Atlanta, GA, 2005

10 x 10, Matre Gallery, Atlanta, GA, 2005

Art at Play, Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, AL, 2003

Focus on Time, Atlanta Photography Gallery, Atlanta, GA, 1995

American Pen Women 37th Biennial National Art Exhibit, Cork Gallery, Lincoln Center, New York City, NY, Award of Honor, 1994

Tommy Moorehead, Laquita Thomson, Russell Everett: Recent Work in Painting and Mixed Media, University of Montevallo, Montevallo, AL, 1994

Seventeenth Annual Miniworks Show, Jacksonville State University, Jacksonville, AL, Purchase Award, 1994

Art with a Southern Drawl, Mobile College, Mobile, AL, 1992

49th Annual Watercolor Society Exhibition, Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, AL, Special Papers Award, 1991

AIDS, The Artist’s Response, Wexner Center for the Arts, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 1989

COLLECTIONS

Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts

Huntsville Museum of Art

Mobile Museum of Art

Jule Collins Smith Museum of Art

Georgia Museum of Art

OTHER ART ACTIVITIES AND HONORS

Featured presenter at Alabama Institute for Education in the Visual Arts, Montgomery, AL, 2008

Feature article, Wake-Up Call by Tara Cady Sartorius in Arts and Activities Magazine, September 2002, pp. 42-44, 2002

Docent, Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, Atlanta, GA, 2000

Panelist, Recalled, Alumni/ae Reunion, Auburn University, AL 1992

Lecture, What it means to be a Creative Woman Artist, TAAF, Narrogin, Western Australia, 1992

Lecture, Alabama Artists, Isabel Comer Museum of Art, Sylacauga, AL 1991

$500 National Liquitex Art Materials Award

$5000 prize for design from Rubbermaid Corporation and Family Circle magazine, 1986

President, Studio 218 Women’s Art Group, Auburn, AL, 1986-88

Museum Arts Education Board, Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL, 1980-81