To facilitate and energize her own production process, Alma W. Thomas played LPs, the radio, and, at some point, cassette compilations that fellow teacher Norma McCray carefully assembled. Meant to aid and abet Thomas in her relentless search for beauty, what the artist listened to ranged widely. On regular rotation was what her great-nephew Charles Thomas Lewis remembers as her favorite song, the Ray Stevens Grammy winner “Everything Is Beautiful (in Its Own Way),” which inspired the exhibition’s title. Listen to the songs that inspired Alma Thomas along with musical selections inspired by her work.

After visiting the exhibitions Alma W. Thomas: Everything Is Beautiful (on view July 1 – September 25, 2022) and Sand Unshaken: The Origin Story of Alma Thomas (on view May 21 – October 2, 2022) at The Columbus Museum, use this guide to take a driving and walking tour of Columbus to see significant historic sites related to the Thomas-Cantey family.

"Alma W. Thomas: Everything Is Beautiful" provides a comprehensive overview of the artist’s long life (1891–1978) with approximately 100 works, including her rarely seen theatrical designs and beloved abstract paintings. The exhibition tracks Thomas’s artistic journey from semi-rural Georgia to international recognition, demonstrating how her artistic practices extended to every facet of her life—from community service and teaching to gardening and dress. View the virtual exhibition here!

Discover details about Alma W. Thomas’ life and work during with catalog scholars Aaron Payne, owner of Aaron Payne Fine Art, and Elka Marie Stevens, PhD, Associate Professor & Coordinator of Fashion Design at Howard University.

Episode No. 510 features curator Seth Feman. Along with Jonathan Frederick Walz, Feman is the co-curator of "Alma W. Thomas: Everything is Beautiful" a retrospective at the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Va. through October 3. The exhibition includes about 100 works, including paintings on canvas and paper, theatrical designs, and more.

Listen to this conversation with Chrysler Museum of Art curator Seth Feman and The Columbus Museum curator Jonathan Frederick Walz — we discuss the art and life of the extraordinary American artist Alma Woodsey Thomas. Seth and Jonathan are co-curators of the major traveling exhibition Alma W. Thomas: Everything Is Beautiful and co-editors of the beautiful exhibition catalogue of the same title.

The Phillips Collection takes a look at Alma Thomas’s Breeze Rustling Through Fall Flowers in ASL.

Alma W. Thomas: Everything Is Beautiful demonstrates that Thomas’s imagination and ingenuity were well developed long before her retirement in 1960, and that her creativity extended far beyond the studio to encompass design, teaching, service, and gardening, among other activities.

Exhibition curators Seth Feman and Jonathan Walz discuss how they used a wide range of artworks and archival materials from the Archives of American Art and The Columbus Museum, Georgia, to uncover new information and offer new insight into Thomas’s life and art. They share specific research findings culled from Thomas’s personal papers that helped shape the narrative of this exhibition.