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 times spent overseas.
Since she was a little girl, Thomson has done art. She has been on the art scene in various capacities and for a long time, so she understands the field. She shows professionally and her work is in many museum collections. She 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.
Thomson has twin sons, Alexander and Ian who live in Georgia. She has two grandchildren.
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
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
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