Alma Thomas DC Heritage Tour - Clio

Entries on This Tour

1. The Alma Thomas Home

Built in 1875, this beautiful red brick home nestled in Logan Circle is where Alma Thomas resided for well over 70 years. Thomas drew inspiration from the natural beauty surrounding her home including a variety of different flowers and trees. One work, "White Roses Sing and Sing" shown below, is said to be influenced by roses grown in her backyard and azalea blooms at the National Arboretum.

2. Shaw Junior High School

Alma Thomas taught art at Shaw Junior High School for 38 years. As an art teacher, she emphasized the works of Black artists, frequently inviting guests to meet and speak with her students. She dedicated time to cultivating talent and showcasing the works of her students in celebration of Negro History Week every year in February.

3. Alma Thomas at Howard University

Alma Thomas studied art at Howard University under the tutelage of Professor James V. Herring. She was a graduate of the University's new Fine Arts program. Prior to pursuing her degree, she also attended the Miner Teachers Normal School, where she trained to teach kindergarten. Numerous works were displayed at Howard University's Gallery of Art in the 1966 exhibit, "Alma W. Thomas: A Retrospective Exhibition, 1959-1966."

4. Lois Mailou Jones House, Little Paris Group

Founded in 1948 by Lois Mailou Jones and Céline Tabary, the Little Paris Studio Group was a cohort of prominent Black artists, including Alma Thomas, in Washington, DC. The Group met every week to create and critique artwork. As large galleries refused works by Black artists, the Group served as a way to encourage and promote their works, especially those by public school art teachers.

5. U.S. National Arboretum

The U.S. National Arboretum served as inspiration for Alma Thomas's work, including "Arboretum Presents White Dogwood," 1972. The Dogwood Collection at the Arboretum slopes downward, leading to the Anacostia River. Mature dogwoods bloom throughout the spring and summer months beginning in March. Thomas spoke of both the Arboretum's dogwoods and azaleas in particular as influences on her work.

6. Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens

The Aquatic Gardens served as another point of interest and inspiration for Alma Thomas. The Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens is a unique and beautiful habitat that features ponds filled with water lilies and lotus, surrounded by tidal marshes. It is a place to experience, celebrate, and connect to nature in Washington, D.C.

7. Alma Thomas & the Cherry Blossoms

You'll notice a recurring theme throughout the Alma Thomas tour: much of Thomas's work was inspired by nature, and more specifically, by the trees and gardens she saw around her every day. In 1973, Thomas created at least three paintings inspired by and titled after what is arguably DC's most famous foliage -- the cherry blossom. Though these beautiful pink and white blooms can be found at various sites throughout the city each spring, the Tidal Basin is home to the largest number of cherry trees in DC, as well as the annual Cherry Blossom Festival.

8. Alma Thomas and the March on Washington

In August of 1963 Alma Thomas participated in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The purpose of this march was to demonstrate an act of civil protest against racial inequality and champion the restoration of civil rights for people of color, namely African Americans, in the United States. Thomas captured the experience in the form of two oil paintings in 1964.

9. Alma Thomas Call Box

The DowntownDC Business Improvement District (BID) Callboxes highlight some of the women in history that changed the city of Washington DC. This particular call box celebrates Alma Thomas, who lived, worked, and studied in the city over the course of her life and career as an artist. Thomas's call box is near a bustling and easily accessible intersection in the heart of downtown, 13th and G St. NW. The base of the box is stenciled with highlights of Thomas’s life and a small plaque affixed to the box provides a detailed biography.

10. Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

Maintaining the world's largest collection of aviation and space artifacts and memorabilia, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum is a monument to the achievement of human flight and all related works of art and archival materials. Between the main facility on the National Mall, opened in 1976, and the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington-Dulles International Airport, the museum welcomes over eight million visitors a year, making it the most visited museum in the country. As part of their mission to showcase works of art related to the history, culture, and science of spaceflight, the museum currently houses a collection of works by Alma Thomas entitled The Art of Alma W. Thomas: A Colorful Response. Within this collection are several of Thomas's abstract paintings inspired by the Apollo Moon landing, as well as other works produced by Thomas in the late 1960s and early 1970s that reinterpreted the natural world through her unique lens.

11. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library

The newly modernized Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library is the central library of the DC Public Library system. Originally designed by architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and opened in 1972, it has served from that time as the city's central hub for library materials, activities, services, and programs. After a three-year closure for a complete building modernization, the MLK Library re-opened in Fall 2020 with many new features and spaces, including the Alma Thomas Teen Space. Located on the second floor, this room is dedicated solely to collections, spaces, services, and programs for youth ages 13-19. The second floor will display some of Thomas' original artwork and feature displays and programs honoring her spirit of dedication to education, youth, and the arts. Additionally, DC Public Library users can access information about Thomas' life and work through digital and print resources.

12. Smithsonian American Art Museum

The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM), including its satellite location, the Renwick Gallery, houses one of the world's largest and most inclusive collections of art. The collection dates from the colonial period to the present and consists of art work created in the United States by American artists. Several of Alma Thomas' works are housed at the SAAM, including "White Roses Sing and Sing," "Snoopy Sees Earth Wrapped in Sunset," "The Eclipse," and "Red Abstraction."

13. Archives of American Art

The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of visual arts and artists in the United States. Housed in the Victor Building in Washington, DC, The Archives of American Art is home to a number of magnificent ephemeral and archival material about Alma Thomas.

14. The Phillips Collection

The Phillips Collection, an art museum founded in 1921 by Duncan and Marjorie Acker Phillips in Dupont Circle, has displayed works from some of history's greatest artists. In Fall 2021 they will host ALMA W. THOMAS: EVERYTHING IS BEAUTIFUL, an exhibit of over 100 of Thomas's creations, from her memorable abstract paintings, to her lessen known theatrical pieces. Structured around the various themes found in Thomas's oeuvre, the exhibit will explore Thomas's place within the Washington Color School, her deep connection to Howard University, and how her art drew from and found its way into every aspect of her life, whether her teaching, gardening, or activism. The exhibit will run from October 30, 2021 to January 23, 2022. Advanced online timed tickets are required for all visitors to the Collection, including members. Tickets for children 18 & under and members are free, but still required.

15. National Gallery of Art

The National Gallery of Art, founded as a gift to the nation, serves as a center of visual art, education, and culture. The collection of more than 150,000 paintings, sculpture, decorative arts, photographs, prints, and drawings spans the history of Western art and showcases some of the triumphs of human creativity. Across 363 days a year, the Gallery offers a full spectrum of special exhibitions and public programs free of charge. Alma Thomas’s first steps in DC would have been next to the National Gallery campus, where the Baltimore and Potomac Railway Station once stood, after she and her family took the train from Columbus, GA to DC in 1907. Today, the National Gallery owns four paintings by Alma Thomas and five additional works on paper.

This Tour is a Thematic Tour or Heritage Trail.

Alma Thomas DC Heritage Tour

Created by DC Public Library on March 23rd 2021, 4:08:32 pm.

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Description

The Alma Thomas DC Heritage Tour will introduce participants to sites around Washington, DC that are significant to the life and work of local artist and educator, Alma Woodsey Thomas. Thomas was born September 22nd, 1891, in Columbus, Georgia. In 1907, Thomas’ family packed up and moved to Washington, D.C. to escape the overwhelming racial violence happening in the South, settling in the Logan Circle neighborhood. After replanting her roots in D.C., Thomas dedicated her life to enriching the local community with her service as a teacher and artist. Thomas’ artwork, inspired by local D.C. sites and flora, has come has come to be regarded as some of the most significant work to come out of the Washington Color School movement. On this tour, you'll be able to visit sites that inspired Thomas' work, places significant to her personal history, and locations where you can view her work today.

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