We recently connected with Lenore Thomas and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Lenore thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I am not sure there was ever a clear moment where I said – I know I am going to be an artist! I do know being artist is not the path I expected to take though. I struggled in undergrad to find that thing I connected to – I changed majors several times taking things I was good at but didn’t necessarily feel any passion for. I am grateful for my liberal arts education and having to take courses in lots of different areas including creative fields. I sang throughout college in choirs but didn’t feel good enough to major in that. I finally took a 2-D design course my junior year and it was there that I started to feel connected to my course work and the professors and students in that department. I think in part because it was a little more of a challenge for in some ways and in others I felt like I was able to just be me. I still didn’t imagine this as my career, I just was happy making art (mind you it was not good!)

I got certified to teach K-12 art after undergrad and did that for a bit before deciding to return to graduate school to get my MFA. It was in the years after undergrad and teaching elementary school that I knew I both wanted to have an artistic practice and teach. Returning to get my MFA felt like the path to allow me to best pursue all this in a way that worked for me. It took a few years to get come to that realization and the most incredible path for me.

Lenore, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I love teaching and I love art! My students bring so much to the classroom and the space is one where we get to learn together. I have always loved that about being in the classroom.

One of the things about my own practice is that I have my own practice which is always evolving and I love collaborating.
My current individual work is dealing with lots of pattern, color created in intaglio and screenprint and folding of paper along with using laser cutting and the cnc to create cutouts in acrylic and MDF. They look deceptively simple and are some of the most complicated pieces I have ever made. They are fresh for me and calling back to some older work while also exploring new ideas. As I continue making the work, I look forward to how it will unfold (no pun intended).

I also I have a long term collaboration with artist, Ivette Spradlin. We have been doing several bodies of work under the name Buff. One project, where I screenprint, collage and sew on photographs that Ivette has taken. We explore a lot of different
things with the work including perceived categories of masculine vs. feminine. The spaces are often industrial and abandoned while the added work by me is decorative, patterened and delicate. Buff allows these associations to intersect, creating subtle tensions that draw attention to these gendering practices. Buff also highlights the way that the space bears the traces of those who inhabit and pass through it; by commenting on it, people can reimagine and insert themselves into that space.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding thing is the community of artists around me. I mentioned my new body of work previously. Not only has it been complicated, it has relied upon the knowledge and support of so many others around me. I am grateful for those people who are willing to share their expertise, their knowledge, their ideas and thoughts. Sometimes it is just a moment when you want to talk an idea out and a friend, colleague, artist that you trust is with you to work through it.

I believe that there is enough love and joy in the world for all of us to share in people’s accomplishments and that we can share our knowledge with each other without threat. Sometimes you don’t get the grant, exhibition or residency and your friend or colleague does. And next time or the next time it will be yours to get. The community and friends in art are everything to me.

Have you ever had to pivot?

There are many times, small and big, when we all have to make the decision to shift in our career or life. I have certainly had many moments come along that have challenged me and forced me to rethink my path and what it means to be create art or how to live my life. Most recently the shift came after I was diagnosed with Stage IV metastatic breast cancer. It was a devastating blow after years of doing everything “right” and only 6 months before the diagnosis having a clear mammogram.

It has not just been a one time rethinking of things since being diagnosed but many times where I stop and reassess where is my life at, what is important right now, and then doing that again and again. Perhaps the most important shift is a reminder that now is all we have and happiness is the thing I cannot give up. I practice mindfulness and trying stay in the now for myself and those that I am with and that has allowed me to reflect on what is most important and the things I most enjoy doing. Making art and teaching and learning continue to be among the things that bring me joy.

Contact Info:

• Website: lenorethomas.com
• Instagram: @crunchshark

Image Credits
The three Buff photos are taken by Ivette Spradlin