About Alison
Alison Thomas moved to New Hampshire in her early twenties and in her words was "bored, surrounded by nature, and unable to find a job" It was in New Hampshire that she found her sister's old camera that had been packed accidentally and on the same day she found the camera she also received an ad in the mail for the Time Life series of books on photography. Thomas ordered the first book, bought some Kodak Tri-X and went out to play.
While Thomas was new to photography she was not new to nature. She had found solace in nature for as long as she could remember and sought to show others that same perception in her photography. Along the way, digital came of age, she got her first copy of Photoshop and she started creating both “straight” photographs adhering to truth in nature standards and digitally modified photographs that are more digital art than photography.
Thomas recently moved to Louisa, Virginia after 10 years in Florida and is looking forward to living more in the out of doors and finding new places to inspire her. She hopes to be participating in art shows around the area and is looking into other venues to show and sell her art.
Artist Statement
Nature has always been an important part of my life. Growing up, I could go to the woods, as close as across the street, and I could find peace and solitude, my center and my God.
I had the fortune to grow up near the mountains of Virginia, one of the most beautiful places in the world. But as I grew up, I watched more and more buildings go up. Where I could once walk all day without ever seeing a paved road became office buildings and malls. When I was 12 I went camping in an area where the nearest store was 10 miles away. When I was 35, that area was suburbia with housing developments and convenience stores on every corner. When I was 15 I played a small part in saving a piece of land from developers that I will always know as Burling Tract. Today it is known as Scott’s Run Nature Preserve and is one of the few unspoiled pieces of land on the Potomac River a stones throw from Washington D.C. That is still one of my proudest achievements.
All in all, though, I am a quiet person. I don’t play the role of activist well. I can barely read the all too true stories of impending loss in the nature magazines today. But I can do something. I can record the beauty and possibly inspire those who can fight. I can be a quiet background support with my art. This also gives me a selfish reason to walk in the woods today, where I still can find peace and serenity.
Disney Festival of the Masters
2010
First Place, "River Journey"
Halifax Art Festival 2010
Award of Honor, "Redwing on a
Reed"
Images, A
Festival of the Arts 2009
Award of Merit, "Feed Me"
Oviedo Butterfly
and Nature Show 2008
Second Place in Photography
Lake Mary - Heathrow Festival of
the Arts 2007
Third Place in Photography.
"Potomac Sunrise"
First Place in Photography, "Sunset Slice"
Two pieces chosen for the Louisa Arts Center exhibit "Down on the Farm" (July 2011)
Two pieces chosen for "Women's ARTWork is Never Done" exhibit at Peabody Auditorium, Daytona Beach, FL(Sept. 2010)
One piece selected for the 5th Annual Pure Florida Exhibit (Sept. 2010)
Two pieces selected for Museum of Florida Art Biennial V
One piece selected for the 4th Annual Pure Florida Exhibit (Sept, 2009)
One piece selected for the Osceola Center for the Arts Juried Exhibition (June, 2009)
Two pieces selected for the Photographers of Central Florida Exhibit (March, 2009)
Two pieces selected for the 3rd Annual Pure Florida Exhibit (Sept, 2008)
One piece selected for the 28th Annual Crealde Student Art Show (July 2008)
Mount Dora Center for the Arts
Photography Invitational 2008
Two pieces displayed at the "One
Nation Under Art" exhibit at
Deltona Arts Center
Five pieces selected for the
Arts Worship Sabbath 2007,
Orlando, FL
Two pieces selected for the
Mount Dora Center for the Arts
Central Florida Juried Art Show
(June 2007)
One piece selected for the
26th Annual Crealde Student
Art Show. (July 2006)