Book of Fishing
Barbara Earl Thomas
Judge Patricia H. Clark Children and Family Justice Center
Linocuts tell family stories about a lasting love of finding food on the water.
Barbara Earl Thomas comes from a family of fisherman who migrated to the Pacific Northwest from Louisiana, Texas, and Florida in the early 1940s. Though they left much behind, they brought with them “a love for being out of doors on the lakes and fishing for food to feed the family and sometimes the whole neighborhood,” says Thomas, who renders this heritage in Book of Fishing, a limited-edition series of linocuts. 4Culture owns five prints in the series: Man Cleans Fish II, Family in a Boat, Dream Delivered, Man in a Boat, and Family of Fish Eaters. The plates for these works were hand carved by the artist and printed by Sidereal Fine Art Press.
Continue Reading ›
A Seattle-based writer and visual artist, Thomas builds narratives through abstracted papercuts and prints, incorporating themes of people and their rituals with the land and foregrounding a mythologized, metaphorical sense of place. She received her MFA from the University of Washington School of Art, where she was mentored by Michael Spafford and Jacob Lawrence. She has since exhibited her work widely, with several national exhibits to her credit. Noted for her inclusive commitment to her community, Thomas was instrumental in the creation of the Northwest African American Museum where she served as its executive director from 2008 to 2012. She is a recipient of the City of Seattle Mayor's Arts Award and the Washington State Governor's Arts & Heritage Award, among other accolades.
About the Location
Judge Patricia H. Clark Children and Family Justice Center
4Culture believes in juvenile justice reform that results in zero youth detention. We also believe artists can lead the way in enacting this change, as culture-bearers, storytellers, and community-builders. Every single artist involved with the Clark Children and Family Justice Center (CFJC) project has demonstrated a commitment to uplifting young people. Likewise, all of the…
Read more about the art and artists at Judge Patricia H. Clark Children and Family Justice Center. More >