Santa Fe, NM
Giacobbe-Fritz Fine Art, September 2-16
Mary Alayne Thomas, The Mystery of the Golden Feather, watercolor/encaustic, 18 x 14.
This story was featured in the September 2016 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art September 2016 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.
Luminous, ethereal, and magical are just a few words to describe the delicately layered, multi-media paintings of Mary Alayne Thomas. Twenty new works by the artist are on view this month at Giacobbe-Fritz Fine Art in a solo show fittingly titled Storytelling. The show opens on September 2 with an artist’s reception at 5 p.m. The title speaks to the subtle visual narratives that ripple through Thomas’ dreamlike watercolor-and-encaustic works. As a child, the artist aspired to be a writer, creating tales in her mind and on paper. “As I got older, painting became my medium for expression, but I never lost my passion for books,” Thomas says. “In this show, I wanted to celebrate that impulse to create stories. I also conceived it as an homage to the physical act of holding and reading a book, something I’ve cherished all my life.”
The Santa Fe native started painting with watercolors at age 16, and as she advanced artistically, she sought other mediums that would add depth and complexity to the process, eventually discovering encaustic painting. “The minute I dipped my brush into the melted wax, I was hooked,” Thomas says. “It transformed the piece, creating a mystery, an instant atmosphere, a
three-dimensional painting. Encaustic’s cloudy depths form a dreamy window through which to view the painting.”
Thomas, who now lives in Portland, OR, begins each work with watercolor and India ink, and then coats the painting with encaustic, layering media such as gold leaf and silkscreen between the coats of wax. Within the resulting patterns, textures, and brilliant color combinations lie stories about nature and ourselves, as in THE MYSTERY OF THE GOLDEN FEATHER. “Over the last year I’ve been increasingly painting women with creatures, flowers, and objects wrapped in their hair,” says Thomas. “I feel like women are often so flatly represented in our society. I wanted to build a visual device that really celebrated the complexity of women’s ideas, feelings, and creativity.”
As for all of her works at the show, Thomas says she hopes they lend people the strength and grace to face the world, adding: “I also sincerely hope that, after seeing them, people march straight to their local library and check out a stack of books!” —Kim Agricola
contact information
505.986.1156
www.giacobbefritz.com
This story was featured in the September 2016 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art September 2016 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.
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- Mary Alayne Thomas, The Mystery of the Golden Feather, watercolor/encaustic, 18 x 14.
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- Mary Alayne Thomas, Whispered Stories in the Shadow of the Flowers, watercolor/encaustic, 10 x 10.
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- Mary Alayne Thomas, The Bear and the Butterfly, watercolor/encaustic, 10 x 10.
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- Mary Alayne Thomas, The Search for the Rainbow Nosed Bat, watercolor/encaustic, 20 x 20.
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- Mary Alayne Thomas, Emily and Laser Fox, Chrono-Detectives, watercolor/encaustic, 18 x 14.
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- Mary Alayne Thomas, Even the Tiger Stopped to Listen to Her Tale, watercolor/encaustic, 18 x 14.
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