Why should Alma Thomas be your new favorite artist? In this short video, former First Lady Michelle Obama and many others describe her as a pioneering artist and a force of nature.
After teaching art in Washington, DC’s Shaw Junior High School for 35 years, Thomas was in her late 70s when she created a new style of painting. The vibrant dabs of color we now lovingly call “Alma stripes” gained the artist recognition that has grown over the years. Her painting Resurrection was chosen for the White House Collection in 2014. In the video, learn about Thomas’s extraordinary life, and enjoy her colorful, joyful art.