Celebrating the Legacy of Alma Thomas and Black Artistry

“Not Unlike Sunlight”: Celebrating the Legacy of Alma Thomas and Black Artistry Though Primary and Colorstruck!

Join acclaimed writers Alexis Pauline Gumbs and Richard J. Powell for a conversation celebrating the legacy of pioneering artist Alma Thomas and the enduring influence of Black artistry.

Hosted on the closing day of All American: Contemporary Perspectives from HBCU Artists, the program brings Gumbs and Powell together in celebration of their new books, Primary and Colorstruck!. In Primary, Gumbs writes as a spiritual student of Thomas, offering a poetic response to Thomas’s life and work, while Colorstruck! draws upon Powell’s expansive scholarship on color, Black art, and visual culture, with Thomas among the artists considered throughout the book.

As the first graduate of Howard University’s art department, Thomas holds an important place within the history of HBCU arts education and American abstraction. Through readings and conversation, Gumbs and Powell will reflect on her creative legacy, the possibilities of writing alongside visual art, and the many shades of Black artistic expression that continue to emerge in her wake.