“The rugged old Norsemen spoke of death as Heimgang—'home-going.’ So the snow-flowers go home when they melt and flow to the sea, and the rock-ferns, after unrolling their fronds to the light and beautifying the rocks, roll them up close again in the autumn and blend with the soil. Myriads of rejoicing living creatures, daily, hourly, perhaps every moment sink into death’s arms, dust to dust, spirit to spirit—waited on, watched over, noticed only by their Maker, each arriving at its own Heaven-dealt destiny. All the merry dwellers of the trees and streams, and the myriad swarms of the air, called into life by the sunbeam of a summer morning, go home through death, wings folded perhaps in the last red rays of sunset of the day they were first tried. Trees towering in the sky, braving storms of centuries, flowers turning faces to the light for a single day or hour, having enjoyed their share of life’s feast—all alike pass on and away under the law of death and love. Yet all are our brothers and they enjoy life as we do, share Heaven’s blessings with us, die and are buried in hallowed ground, come with us out of eternity and return into eternity. ‘Our lives are rounded with a sleep’” – John Muir
Edward Thomas (1972 - 2021) was an artist, architect and historian living and working daily in Charlottesville, Virginia. Edward studied both architecture and painting at the University of Virginia. He painted out of door scenes daily and pursued his passion for building by using his own home as a perpetually unfinished architectural laboratory. Edward specialized in brick masonry and classical methods of building that were used by Thomas Jefferson and other architectural styles vernacular to the region.
“...architecture is my delight, and putting up, and pulling down, one of my favourite amusements”
Edward's original paintings are found in prestigious collections throughout the US. His estate has continued to make his gift shop available.
Corolla
Jefferson Sea View From The Gardens
Edward, photo by Ken Scobie
Artist Statement
I record my world in an archival medium, without artificial interface between the subject and my eyes nor between my eyes and the emerging piece; painting with oils, out of doors, from direct observation. I strive to achieve paintings that not only are faithful recordings of the site and weather conditions but, upon closer inspection, can hold their own on an Abstract level of pure color and mark making. To make possible this dual existence of paint I believe two things are crucial. Practice, and a minimum of thought during the act of painting. Thinking gets in the way and leads to artifice; painting what you think is there rather than what is there. What the eye sees must be transposed directly to the fingers holding the brush. The muscles know precisely what chords of color to pick off the palette in response to what the eye has seen. Thus the paint is laid down with a minimum of thought but instead with the unconscious patterning of a muscle that has made this notation a million times before. The paint is laid down precisely enough to satisfy the needs of representing the subject, but with an immediacy enough to satisfy the Abstract demand that the paint be paint.
Education
1991-1996 University of Virginia
1994 Royal Academy of Architecture, Copenhagen, Denmark
1995 Bachelors of Science in Architecture from the University of Virginia
1991-2021. Student of Richard Crozier; Student of Wayne Thiebaud
Selected Exhibitions
1995-2002 Gallery Neo, Charlottesville, Virginia.
1996 Pavilion IX, University of Virginia.
1997 Virginia State Arboretum, Boyce, Virginia.
1998-2000 McGuffey Art Center, Charlottesville.
1999 Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, Virginia.
2000 Reynolds Gallery, Richmond, Virginia.
2001 Office of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C.
2002 American Academy, Rome.
2003 University of Virginia Medical Center.
2015 Praxinoscopes, Second Street Gallery, Charlottesville.
2018 Select Works 1998-Present, J3, Charlottesville.
2018 Blenheim Vineyards, Charlottesville.
2018 First Fridays at J3, December 7, Charlottesville.
