Thoma's recent work, the welded steel an bottle sculpture reflects nature and life in motion.
These compositions and designs are inspired by movement within nature, wings in motion, and bodies of water.
She is a painter and 2D artist as well as a sculptor and the sculptures often begin as drawings. The final compositions change however, sometimes radically as they begin to materialize. As she states in her biography, "I think of the sculptures as line drawings with the bottles creating shades and tone across the line drawing like washes of transparent watercolors. I work to vary the stroke of the line drawing with different line widths, using heavy and light steel wire to vary the gesture. By adding steel mesh with a grid, I add more line work with structure and movement.
The bottles work together to create volume and density while flowing across the "line drawing" of the steel armature. Where the white of the paper shows through when painting with watercolors, sunlight and the world behind them can be seen through glass bottles. The bottles are seductive, glass diamonds, while at the same time they are debris; leftovers from mass production, once useful but now destined for the landfill.
The sculpture embodies contradictions about what is beautiful and what is art. It brings up questions about our culture, mass production of products, and how we are caring for the environment. The work is a continuation of artwork informed by surrealism, cubism, modernism, pop art, and environmental art.
In 1989 I began making sculpture with "ready-mades," everyday items such as spoons, industrial vents, fans, and flexible electrical conduit. By including such objects, I believe the work has the soul of a past life from its previous use and meaning in culture. I aim to provide layers of meaning within the artwork so that there are many ways to interpret the art.
Like a dream, the art can be the subject of varied interpretations. In 1993 I made my first "Earth Tear," sculpture made of 250 recycled bottles and steel. My recent work is a continuation of this exploration of bottles and steel."
Thoma's work is included in several permanent collections including; The National Museum of Contemporary Art in Costa Rica Rene De Rosa Art Park; Norcal Company Art Collection, San Francisco, CA and the City of Palo Alto Public Art Collection City of San Leandro Public Art Collection, among others. She recently had a solo exhibition in November at the William Havu Gallery in Denver, and was a National Finalist for the Water Wall Public Art Project.
For more information: Kimberly Conrad Saari, Director, K. Saari Gallery, 837 Lincoln Ave., Steamboat Springs, CO 80487 970.870.0188.
