Santa Maria was never part of a long-term plan for artist Laura-Susan Thomas and her husband, who moved up from Los Angeles about two decades ago.
“We both had constantly moved growing up, so figured we might be here three years or so,” Thomas told the Sun. “Now 20 some years later, two grown kids, a house, and a community of lifelong friends, we have put down roots for the first time.”
Formerly a designer for Walt Disney Imagineering, Thomas worked as a freelance illustrator for several years after relocating to the Central Coast before taking on her current job at Allan Hancock College, where she teaches digital art classes. Thomas is also the director of the school’s exhibition center, the Ann Foxworthy Gallery.
“When Marti Fast, the previous director of many years and a friend, retired, she asked me to take the position,” Thomas said. “I mentored with her for a semester, learning the ins and outs of gallery work.”
From artist to curator, one of the aspects Thomas appreciates most about working as the gallery’s director is getting to interact with other artists from the community and beyond.
“It has been such a wonderful opportunity. I get to meet all sorts of artists, visit studios, and live, work, and be inspired by art all of the time,” Thomas said. “There is a burgeoning art community on the Central Coast, with many artists working and living here, from Santa Ynez to Cambria up the coast.”
Thomas described her goal as the gallery’s director to “bring in a variety of art, artists, and ideas we in Santa Maria don’t always have the opportunity to see.” Embracing unique subject matter to raise awareness for specific issues is a goal that carries over into Thomas’ own artwork as well. Fresh from the studio in the backyard of her Orcutt home, Thomas hopes her latest creations will inspire proactivity in wildlife conservation.
“I love painting animals and making a connection between the human and the animal world,” Thomas said. “Most of my animal paintings I approach more as portraits, trying to find ways to connect their human viewers with the subject of my work.”
Thomas’ paintings are currently being showcased in Creatures Big and Small, an exhibition at Valley Art Gallery in Orcutt. Most of the featured pieces were created with oils, although some pieces incorporate collage work as well. Thomas’ artistic style is heavily inspired by the works of Howard Post and Wayne Thiebaud, she said.
“Their bold strokes are simply delicious,” explained Thomas, whose other influences include the ballpoint drawings of Andrea Joseph and the digital paintings of Craig Mullins and Bobbie Chu.
Creatures Big and Small runs through Saturday, Nov. 30, at the Orcutt gallery. Birds, sheep, giraffes, dogs, and coyotes are just a few of the non-human subjects included in Thomas’ works.
“Coyotes are one of my favorites to paint. They just do what nature tells them to do, and many times it is humans encroaching on their world that causes the problems,” said Thomas, who strives to shine a light on animals that are either endangered or popularly depicted as “the bad guys.”
“I hope we can connect people emotionally to these animals so we can be more proactive in how we interact with them and look to conserving the habitats and wild places in our world,” she said.
Earnest intentions aside, many of Thomas’ works currently on display share a whimsical tone. Thomas even used her own dog, Roo—adorably attired in a ballerina tutu—as the subject of one of her paintings. But even this and some of Thomas’ other lighthearted works maintain the artist’s goal to inspire sympathy toward animals, by incorporating human activities and mechanisms into the animal world.
“Perhaps you know someone like Sheila, my sheep in red heels, or a friend with the goofy personality of my own dog, Roo, in her tutu,” Thomas said. “My hope is the human personalities I try to convey make a connection on a familiar or emotional level.”
Arts Editor Caleb Wiseblood needs a tutu for his doggo before Nutcracker season ends. Send tutu funds to cwiseblood@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Nov 21-28, 2019.