Lava Thomas www.lavathomas.com [email protected] b. Los Angeles, CA Solo Exhibitions 2018 Mugshot Portraits: Women of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2015 Looking Back and Seeing Now, Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA 2014 Lava Thomas: Beyond, Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, CA 2005 Organic, Nathan Larramendy Gallery, Ojai, CA 1996 Parallel Origins, Art Dome, CA State University, Northridge, CA Selected Group Exhibitions 2018 EXPO Chicago, Rena Bransten Gallery, Chicago, IL Pretty Big Things, Walter Maciel Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Personal to Political: Celebrating the African American Artists of Paulson Fontaine Press, Krasl Art Center, St. Joseph, MI Art on the Vine, Martha’s Vineyard, MA SF Art Book Fair, Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco, CA Be Not Still: Living in Uncertain Times, Part II, di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art, Napa, CA The Portrait Show, Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, CA Personal to Political: Celebrating the African American Artists of Paulson Fontaine Press, Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA Face Forward: Self-Image & Self-Worth, Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA States of Matter, Zeitgeist Gallery, Nashville, TN 2017 PULSE Miami Beach, Rena Bransten Gallery, Miami, FL SabBath: The 2017 Dorothy Saxe Invitational, Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, CA With LiBerty and Justice for Some, Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA Modern and Contemporary Art Collection, Lincoln Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC Culture In A Changing America, Artist Salon Series, Park Avenue Armory, New York, NY With LiBerty and Justice for Some, Walter Maciel Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Sanctuary City: With Liberty and Justice for Some, SFAC Gallery, San Francisco, CA Lift Off, Rio Hondo College Art Gallery, Rio Hondo, CA The True Stories Project: Exploitation and Empowerment, Patan Museum, Kathmandu, Nepal 2016 EXPO Chicago, Rena Bransten Projects, Chicago, IL After Pop Life, Minnesota Street Projects, San Francisco, CA artMRKT, San Francisco, Rena Bransten Gallery, Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, CA Contemporary Figuration as an Expression of Humanism, Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA These American Lives, Rena Bransten Gallery, Minnesota Street Projects, San Francisco, CA Introspective, BravinLee Programs, New York, NY 2015 PULSE Miami Beach, Rena Bransten Projects, Miami, FL EXPO Chicago, Rena Bransten Projects, Chicago, IL artMRKT San Francisco, Rena Bransten Projects, Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture, San Francisco, CA 2014 Collect!, Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA West Coast Ink, University Art Gallery, Sonoma State University, Sonoma, CA 2013 Being Scene: A Performance Installation, in collaboration with Aleta Hayes, Iris & B Gerald Cantor Center at Stanford University, Stanford, CA 2012 Community Creates, Palo Alto Art Center, Palo Alto, CA Women In Print, Etchings from the Paulson Bott Press, Bolinas Museum, Bolinas, CA 2011 Chain Letter, Shoshona Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica, CA Women in Print, Paulson Bott Press, Berkeley, CA Lava Thomas , 1 2011 Tel-Art-Phone, Beacon Arts Building, Inglewood, CA 2010 Secret Drawings, Palo Alto Art Center, Palo Alto, CA San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA 2008 Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA Idyllwild Art Center, Idyllwild, CA 2007 International Print Center, New York, NY 2006 Fullerton College Art Gallery, Fullerton, CA Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA Idyllwild Art Center, Idyllwild, CA Paulson Bott Press, Berkeley, CA Strictly Graphite, Fine Arts Gallery, College of Marin, Marin, CA Hair Raising, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA ArtLA, Nathan Larramendy Gallery, Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica, CA 2005 Paintings Edge, Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA Face Paint, Bucheon Gallery, San Francisco, CA San Francisco International Art ExhiBition, Nathan Larramendy Gallery, Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture, San Francisco, CA 2004 Meat Show, San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, San Francisco, CA Commission ’04, San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, San Francisco, CA Art Interrupted 2, Djerassi Resident Artists Program, Woodside, CA Echoes of Africa, American Pavilion, Epcot Center, Disneyworld, Orlando, FL Hidden Treasures, Nathan Larramendy Gallery, Ojai, CA 1999 Two Artists: Stacy Pyles and Lava Thomas, San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, San Francisco, CA New Work, California College of the Arts, Oakland, CA 1998 Sexing Myths, Betty Wymer Gallery, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL 1997 Caressed By the Earth, CA African-American Museum, Los Angeles, CA Aphrodisiac, Ascension Gallery, Washington, DC III, Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA Time of Departure, Pro Arts Gallery, Oakland, CA 1995 Parallel Origins, Landing Space, Wight Gallery, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA Commissions 2013 Set Design, “Singing the Rooms: Songs For Alan,” performance by Aleta Hayes, Performance Studies International Conference, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA 2007 Set Design, “Remix Project,” Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA Set Design, “Rock, Pop and Hip Hop in Contemporary Theater,” Stanford University High School Program, Stanford, CA 2006 Set Design Collaboration, “Remix Project,” Eastside College Preparatory High School, East Palo Alto, CA 2004 Commission ’04 Mini-box set, San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery with Trillium Press, San Francisco, CA 1996 Set painting for “Five Dead Friends,” Museum of Contemporary Art, Boulder, CO 1994 City of Santa Clarita Mural Project with East Los Angeles Street Scapers Studio, Los Angeles, CA Bibliography 2018 Raiford, Leigh. “’Lava Thomas’ “Mugshot Portraits: Women of the Montgomery Bus Boycott’,” exhibition catalog, 2018. Black Renaissance Noire, Vol. 18, Issue 2, ed. Quincy Porter Troupe, New York University, New York, NY, 2018. (forthcoming) Desmarais, Charles. “An uncertain approach to political art at di Rosa,” San Francisco Chronicle, August 18, 2018. Lava Thomas, 2 2018 Desmarais, Charles. “What’s up in SF museums and galleries this fall,” San Francisco Chronicle DateBook, August 17, 2018. Norwood, Christopher. “Black Excellence at Art Basel,” International Review of African American Art, Vol. 28, No. 2 (2018): p. 13-32. Giles, Gretchen. “Part Two of di Rosa’s ‘Be Not Still’ a Lesson in the Importance of Being Earnest,” KQED Arts, June 28, 2018. Lederer, Carrie. Personal to Political: Celebrating the African American Artists of Paulson Fontaine Press, exhibition catalog, 2018. Fancher, Lou. “Walnut Creek: African-American art show opens at Bedford Gallery,” East Bay Times, April 13, 2018 Hutson, Laura. “Two Shows at Zeitgeist Gallery Explore the Power of the Feminine,” Nashville Scene, January 25, 2018. Boyle, Kathleen. “States of Matter,” Nashville Arts Magazine, January 4, 2018. 2017 Miller, Robert Nagler. “Remember the Sabbath: 57 artists respond in imaginative exhibit,” The Jewish News of Northern California, November 19, 2017. 2016 Roth, David M. “These American Lives at Rena Bransten Gallery,” Square Cylinder, April 25, 2016. 2015 Black Renaissance Noire, Vol. 15, Issue 2, ed. Quincy Porter Troupe, New York University, New York, NY, 2015. LeDuc, Aimee. Lava Thomas: Looking Back and Seeing Now, exhibition catalog, September 2015. Garchick, Leah. “What if you gave a piano concert and goofs didn’t matter,” SF Chronicle, July 15, 2015. Zack, Jessica. “Lava Thomas’ Mirrored Art Helps Viewers Reflect,” SF Chronicle, July 31, 2015. Burke, Sarah. “Lava Thomas’ Tambourine Dream,” East Bay Express, July 15, 2015. 2014 Garchick, Leah. “MoAD cuts the ribbon and welcomes art lovers to reimagined space,” SF Chronicle, December 4, 2014. LeFalle-Collins, Lizetta. Lava Thomas: Beyond, exhibition catalog, 2014. Winn, Steven. “Lava Thomas’ art rooted in biography,” SF Gate, November 29, 2014. Winn, Steven. “MoAD reopens with big changes and big plans,” SF Chronicle, November 26, 2014. “The Cantor collaborates with Stanford students in many creative ways: Being Scene,” Cantor Arts Center News, Spring 2014. 2013 Kienzle, Karen. The Veterans Portrait/Self-Portrait Project, exhibition catalog, 2014. 2011 Studio Visit, Vol.15, ed. Stephen T. Zevitas, 2011. 2010 Junker, Howard. “Violin d’Ingres”, ZYZZYVA 90, Winter 2010. “Art Collection of the United States Consulate General, Johannesburg, South Africa,” exhibition catalog, 2010. Graham, Jason-Louise. “Lava Thomas Shakes Berkeley,” Examiner, September 28, 2010. Messer, Ari. “Studies in Digital Imaging,” COLOR #6, March 2010. 2006 Junker, Howard. “Fictitious Self-Portrait,” ZYZZYVA 78, Winter 2006. Cohen, Stephen. ArtLA, exhibition catalog, January, 2006. Hendrix, Anastasia. “Art off the top of our heads,”San Francisco Chronicle, January 15, 2006. 2005 Wiebe, Stacey. “Body of Art,” Ventura County Reporter, September 22, 2005. San Francisco International Art ExhiBition, exhibition catalog, 2005. 2004 Buckner, Clark. “Critic’s Choice,” San Francisco Bay Guardian, December 22, 2004. Meat Show, exhibition catalog, 2004. 2003 Campbell, Rob. “Natural refinement,” Ventura County Reporter, December 11, 2003. Woodard, Joseph. “All certified ‘Organic,” LA Times Calendar Weekend, December 4, 2003. 1997 Wilson, Stanley. Caressed By the Earth, exhibition catalog, 1997. Dunn, Suzanne and Sorensen, Dina. New Drawing, exhibition catalog, 1997. 1996 Johnson, Reed. “Similar Visions from Worlds Apart,” Daily News, October 11, 1997. Woodard, Joseph. “Sights,” LA Times Calendar, November 14, 1996. 1995 Von Blum, Paul and Du Tan,