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talents and advised Thomas to enroll in the newly organized Department of Art. Reluctant at first, she was eventually persuaded, and the next year, 1922, registered as a fine arts student, the first major. To supplement her income while a student, Thomas designed and fashioned costumes for the Howard Players organized by Montgomery Gregory, head of the Drama Department. Herring later recalled their first year: "...Our initial encounter then, was a youthful teacher, pontifical and omniscient, and young student, opinionated and not less omniscient...." 33

In 1922, May Howard Jackson (1877-1930), a noted portraitist and local sculptor trained at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, was employed to teach sculptor and modeling from life. Extended to six hours weekly, the life class included models from the Corcoran Gallery of Art who posed in the University studio.34 Thomas's Untitled (Head of A Girl), 1924, glazed ceramic and Bust of A Little Girl, 1924, plaster were completed under her skillful eye. The portraits are not studies from classical or Renaissance models, but indicate instead an attempt at modeling two specific personae. The naturalistic treatment of hair and the distinct facial characteristics reveal a familiarity with the subjects. Bust of A Little Girl, characterized by The Murmur, a local newspaper, as "being exceptionally well executed"35 resonates with Jackson's influence and aesthetic point of view. Actually a study of Thomas's deceased sister Fannie,36 the portrayal has a strong stylistic resemblance to the young woman in Jackson's

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