William Paul Thomas will exhibit his current art at the Whitewater Arts Alliance’s Cultural Arts Center, 402 W. Main St. in September.
His show, “Notes From a Treacherous Climb,” will run Sept. 4 through Sept. 21 from noon to 5 p.m. on Thursdays through Sundays. All are invited to a reception to greet Thomas on Sunday, Sept. 14 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the CAC.
Born in Chicago, Thomas completed a Master of Fine Arts program in Studio Art at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in 2013. As a teaching fellow, he taught basic drawing and composition and worked directly with advanced painting students.
In 2009, Thomas earned his BFA with an emphasis in painting and drawing from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. He spent three consecutive summers serving as an instructor for Upward Bound and TRIO programs teaching traditional photography, basic drawing, and digital imaging to teenagers from inner city Milwaukee.
In 2010, Thomas was hired as a camera operator and editor for the City of Whitewater assisting in the production of municipal and educational video projects. Thomas has exhibits work in the Museum of Science and Industry’s annual Black Creativity exhibition.
He was awarded the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation award in 2011. The Greenshields grant is a highly competitive $15,000 prize awarded to artists working in a representational style.
His visual practice involves exploring issues of race, identity, and commodity through his own personal narrative. When he was a student in Whitewater, Thomas was already a very visible and vibrant artist in our community. His work is on permanent display at UW-W, and his past shows at the Sweet Spot and the Cultural Arts Center sparked several commissioned paintings. He also received the Chancellor’s Selection Award at the Annual Juried Student Show at Crossman Gallery in 2007.
In addition to his exhibition at the Cultural Arts Center, his work will be featured at Roberta’s Gallery in the University Center he will deliver the keynote address at the College of Arts and Communication’s Fall Convocation event on Tuesday, Sept. 16 at 4:30 p.m. in the Young Auditorium.
Mark McPhail, Dean of the College and President of the Whitewater Arts Alliance, said he is excited about Thomas’s return to campus this fall.
“The theme for this year’s Convocation is ‘belonging,’ and I can’t think of anyone who better embodies that theme than William Thomas. His portraiture speaks of personal relationship, and his sense of connection with the Department of Art and Design, the college, and the university, reflects a strong and enduring bond with this community. It is an honor and a pleasure to host his work again here in Whitewater,” McPhail said.
Thomas is currently exhibiting throughout the state of North Carolina. He has displayed paintings at the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Arts and Culture in Charlotte, The Delta Arts Center in Winston Salem, The Carrack Modern Art in Durham, and the Ackland Art Museum in Chapel Hill.
One of his recent projects, “TEEF” is a video piece that consists of a collection of narratives from men describing unique moments of happiness. This venture into time-based media can be partially attributed to his time spent working with Alan Luckett at Whitewater Community Television.
Thomas teaches adult painting and drawing classes at the Arts Center in Carrboro, North Carolina.
The Whitewater Arts Alliance’s Cultural Arts Center is located on 402 West Main Street in the historic White building near the Birge Fountain. Parking is behind the building, with an elevator available from the parking lot entrance. Parking is also available on side streets.
In his artist statement, Thomas describes his work:
“I paint representations of disembodied heads of people in my social circle and sometimes scrawl text directly over their likenesses. That text is often tinged with dry humor, at times it is politically incorrect, and is regularly derived from the spoken vernacular of the communities I have been reared by,” he wrote.
“The work,” he said, “begins as an intimate acknowledgement of an individual and is subsequently transformed into a set of symbols poised for the viewer’s investigation.”
For more information visit www.williampaulthomas.com.
