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STATEMENT BY ALMA THOMAS
An excerpt from Alma W. Thomas, catalogue of a solo exhibition of the artist's work held April 25-May 28, 1972, at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.

My earth paintings are solely inspired from nature. The display of the designs formed by the leaves of the holly tree that covers the bay window in my home greets me each morning. These compositions are framed by the window panes with the aid of the wind as an active designer. The rays of the sunrise flickering through the leaves add joy to their display.

Man's highest inspirations come from nature. A world without color would seem dead. Color is life. Light is the mother of color. Light reveals to us the spirit and living soul of the world through colors.

Spring delivers her dynamic sermon to the world each year, drenching one's thoughts with its magnificent outburst of light hues of colors to darker ones as the weather grows warmer. Autumn, with the aid of Jack Frost, gives overwhelming, luscious, strong colors to the earth to enrich man's soul, seemingly relieving him of the hardships he encounters in life.

I have always enjoyed the progressive creativeness of the artist as he releases himself from the past. He gives new, exciting expressions through experiences from this rapidly changing world of science, economics, religion, society, and new materials, etc. I think that is the reason that I evolved to this type of statement in my present paintings. The irregular strokes give an interesting free pattern to the canvas, creating white intervals that punctuate the color stripes. There is a rhythmic movement obtained, too. I do not use masking tape. Sometimes a few pencil marks are employed to prohibit my becoming too involved with the stripes. The large circular canvasses, however, are freely designed.

My earth paintings are inspired by the display of azaleas at the Arboretum, the cherry blossoms, circular flower beds, the nurseries as seen from planes that are airborne, and by the foliage of trees in the fall.

My space paintings are expressed in the same color patterns as my earth paintings, with the white canvas forming intriguing motifs around and through the color composition.

I was born at the end of the 19th century, horse and buggy days, and experienced the phenomenal changes of the 20th century machine and space age. Today not only can our great scientists send astronauts to and from the moon to photograph its surface and bring back samples of rocks and other materials, but through the medium of color television all can actually see and experience the thrill of these adventures. These phenomena set my creativity in motion. Although I was unable to experience the thrill of witnessing a blast-off at Cape Kennedy, the enthusiasm of my friend, Selma Stein, who did, inspired the development of two of my paintings, "The Launching Pad" and "The Blast Off."

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Alma Thomas about twenty to twenty five years old.