Join Us. CQA

Barbara Earl Thomas is a Seattle based visual artist with numerous national exhibits to her credit and an active art making career spans 40 years.

A skilled painter who now builds tension-filled narratives through papercuts and prints, placing silhouetted figures in social and political landscapes.

She pulls from mythology and history to create a contemporary visual narrative that challenges the stories we tell as Americans about who we are.

Thomas is known for her large-scale installations that use light as the animating force and invites her viewers to step inside her world of illuminated scenography.

Thomas’s works are included in the collections of the Seattle, Tacoma and Portland Art Museums, Chrysler Museum of Art, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Microsoft, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Washington State and Seattle City public collections.

She received her BA and MFA from the University of Washington School of Art. Thomas recently completed commissioned work at Yale University's Hopper College as well as two major exhibitions, Geography of Innocence, Seattle Art Museum November 2020 -January 2022, and Packaged Black, a collaboration with New York based artist, Derrick at the Henry Art Gallery at the University of Washington October 2021-May 2022. Her most recent recent solo exhibits have been at Claire Oliver Gallery (New York), November 2022, and Chrysler Museum of Art (Virginia), February 2023.

At this point in time, meetings will be virtual until further notice (with any exceptions listed in the table below). The CQA board will evaluate the situation as it evolves and adjust if necessary.

Visitors are always welcome at our meetings, and there is no admission fee. Meetings run from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on the second Saturday of each month, on the Seattle Pacific University campus. (See directions, maps, and room information, below.) Bring yourself a sack lunch if you wish.

To become a member click here and go to "Join the CQA".

Would you like to attend our next meeting? Contact programs for the link.

Directions to Bertona Hall on the Seattle Pacific University campus:

GPS entry: 107 West Bertona, Seattle 98119

From I-5, take the NE 50th Street exit and drive west. Turn left (south) on Fremont Avenue N—about two miles. Get into the right lane as you cross the Fremont bridge and take the first turn-off to the right and then immediately right again onto Nickerson Street. Follow Nickerson for about half a mile, and turn left (south) at the stoplight for 3rd Avenue West. You are now on the SPU campus.Turn left onto 3rd.

Enter the parking lot on your left by turning into the driveway beside the Subway. Our building is on the east side of the parking lot, a one-story red brick building. Parking in the lot is free for us on weekends; ignore the restricted parking and "No Parking" signs.

Click here to see a map of the entire SPU campus.

Month	Speaker
June 10, 2023	Barbara Earl Thomas, Mixed Media
July 8, 2023	Summer Meet Up
August 12, 2023	Phyllis Cullen, Fiber Artist
September 9, 2023	Eleanor Levie, Textile Artist
October 14, 2023	Andrea Ramsay, Sculpture and Wood Worker

Monthly Meetings

Barbara Thomas

June 10, 2023