Most days, Charlottesville artist Edward Thomas could be found with his folding easel, set up on a sidewalk, by the river, or at a construction site, engaged in capturing “what the world looks like from where I stand,” he’d say. Thomas died May 8, 2021, at the age of 49.
“Edward had an extremely good eye and extraordinary sense of color,” says his friend and mentor Richard Crozier. “He painted with a kind of bravura.” He produced faithful renditions of his subjects, with formal elements—palette, marks, and gestures—having a stand-alone integrity that transcends their narrative role.
Thomas had a rare ability to convey the quality of air and light, enlivening his paintings with particular vitality. He also experimented with various forms of animation, made filmstrips based on flip book technology, built at least two cycloramas (which allowed the viewer to experience a 360-degree panorama), and a number of praxinoscopes (similar to a zoetrope), nine of which were featured in a 2015 show at Second Street Gallery. He built tabletop versions and a giant one the Dave Matthews Band took on tour.
A graduate of the University of Virginia School of Architecture, Thomas was an inveterate builder and tinkerer, creating and adapting with constant inventiveness. He described his house on 6 1/2 Street as “a perpetually unfinished architectural laboratory” where he could employ his knowledge of brick masonry, constructing, among other things, a wall that showcased the history of masonry techniques, transitioning from neolithic drystack to Jefferson-inspired arches that formed an aqueduct. He also excavated and built a subterranean, groin-vaulted wine cellar with a tunnel connecting it to the house.
His friends describe Thomas as witty, hardworking, kind, gentle, and endlessly creative. He cared about the world around him, volunteering for Food Not Bombs and The Salvation Army, and using his art as a means to conserve countryside and old farms targeted by developers. He drove one of the first (if not the first) hybrid cars in Charlottesville, a 2000 Honda Insight. Thomas was an avid gardener, and shared the vegetables he grew with friends. He loved animals and had three dogs, Five, Jupiter, and Zero.
UVA architecture professor Peter Waldman says of Thomas, “He was joyful and poignant. His is a great loss as he mirrored for us all Charlottesville, making the ordinary splendid.”