About The Eatonton messenger. (Eatonton, Ga.) 18??-current | View Entire Issue (June 29, 2017)
LAKELIFE MAGAZINE • BACK TO SCHOOL 2017 CELEBRATE STEFFEN THOMAS - THE ARTIST & THE MUSEUM The Steffen Thomas Museum of Art celebrates its 20th anniversary this year with the city of Atlanta, where Steffen Thomas’s prolific career and storybook romance with Sara Douglass Thomas began. “Steffen Thomas: A Legacy in Atlanta” is a months-long celebration of the art museum's milestone anniversary, as well as the artistic contributions Steffen Thomas made in Atlanta during his 60-plus year career. The city of Atlanta hosted several events in the spring, including an invitational Plein Air Paint Out in Midtown Atlanta on May 20 at the site of Steffen Thomas’s fountain sculpture “Trilon," a gift from the artist to the city and the winner of an Urban Design Award for Excellence in 1976. The following are other opportunities to celebrate artist Steffen Thomas’s work and the Steffen Thomas Museum of Art’s 20th anniversary: The living room gallery at the Steffen Thomas Museum of Art. JULY 27 Panel Discussion: “Steffen Thomas and the Impact of Public Art” Invited to participate in this panel discussion will be several artists, as well as “The Art of Steffen Thomas" editor Andrew Hayes and Atlanta Public Art Collections Manager, Robert Witherspoon. The event will be held from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Gallery 72 in Atlanta. AUGUST 24-SEPTEMBER 30 Steffen Thomas: A Legacy in Atlanta Exhibit This exhibition will also feature works by the contemporary artists who participated in the invitational Plein Air Paint Out in Midtown Atlanta at the "Trilon.” Their artwork will be exhibited along with works by Steffen Thomas at the Steffen Thomas Museum of Art in Buckhead. THROUGH JULY 28 Plein Art Paint Out Exhibit This exhibition will feature works by contemporary artists who participated In the invitational Plein Air Paint Out in Midtown Atlanta at Steffen Thomas’s “Trilon” fountain sculpture. Their artwork will be exhibited along with works by Steffen Thomas at Gallery 72 in Atlanta. AUGUST 24 Steffen Thomas: A Legacy in Atlanta Opening Reception & 20th Anniversary Celebration An opening reception for the Plein Air Paint Out Exhibit will be held at the Steffen Thomas Museum of Art from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The reception will also commemorate the museum's 20th anniversary. The event is free to attend and open to the public. GALLERY 72 72 Marietta Street NW, Atlanta 404-546-3220 • ocaatlanta.com STEFFEN THOMAS MUSEUM OF ART 4200 Bethany Road, Buckhead 706-342-7557 • steffenthomas.org The museum’s solo exhibits of artwork created by Steffen Thomas have as much variety in terms of form, medium and technique as a group exhibit. On a recent visit, works in the museum’s main gallery included one or more of the following: pastel drawing; Venetian glass mosaic; acrylic painting; ceramic sculpture; welded-copper sculpture; and mixed-media painting. The numerous works also varied in size. Steffen Thomas is perhaps best known for his public art sculptures that include busts created from marble or bronze in the likeness of notable people in state universities and politics, such as Henry Grady, Steadman Sanford, George Washington Carver, Martha Berry and Eugene Talmadge. It also includes “Trilon,” a copper fountain sculpture he gave to the city of Atlanta in 1976. “Trilon” was placed at 15th and Peachtree streets, where it remains today. By the early 1960s, Steffen Thomas began to focus on making his art - his way. The majority of his artwork at the museum was completed during this period of his creative life. Steffen Thomas drew inspiration from the things that interested him the most — religion, astronomy, philosophy, current events — even family pets. The museum exhibits several versions of sculptures Steffen Thomas created of Peter, a Siamese cat who was a beloved family pet. A large welded metal sculpture of the feline, “Peter the First,” stands watch in a corner of the museum’s main gallery. It is a favorite of the hundreds of school children who visit each year, who have nicknamed him “Pete the cat.” Three much smaller sculptures of Peter sit on a bookcase in the living room gallery of the museum. That is also where you’ll find two sculptures of Richard the Lionheart, or Dick, a lion cub that roamed free in the Thomas family’s home and art studio in the early 1960s. “They gave him my bedroom so when I came home
