Its never too late to achieve your dreams and reach your fullest potential.
There are few better examples of this thanAlma Thomas.
Needless to say, she did not take the conventional path to becoming an artist.
Who Was Alma Thomas?
Everything she made was like a painting, Thomasrecalledin an interview shortly before her death.
She sat at the sewing machine, and at night we would hear her singing as she sewed.
That’s why I am as I am.
So that young people come around me, those who want to be painters and those who love art.
I got that from my grandfather and my mother.
When I entered the art room, it was like entering heaven.
A beautiful place, just where I belonged, Thomasexpressedof her high school days.
I stayed three or four years and took all the art courses…
The Armstrong High School laid the foundation for my life.
In 1921at the age of 30Thomas reentered school.
She attendedHoward Universityand studied underJames V. Herring, the founder of the Universitys new art department.
Creative art…is for all times and is therefore independent of time.
This series became known as herEarth Paintings.
One of these, entitledResurrection, was later acquired for the White House collection in 2014.
This time inspired by the moon landing, she titled the seriesSpace, Snoopy and Earth.
Later that same year, she received the same honor at theCorcoran Gallery of Art.
Her work was very well received by art critics, with several glowing reviews appearing inThe New York Times.
Thomas continued to receivenational recognitionfor her work until the time of her death in 1978.
