statement

Drawing for me is a means of realizing emotional and philosophical ideas that are conveyed through human form and flesh.   This aesthetic that emerges through the working and reworking of the figure or figures and the composition.  The drawing acquires a layering of images which remain beneath the final image.

These subtle leftovers are like memories and create an emotional depth to a work.  The drawn body emerges from its aesthetic environment, anchored both in reality (the form observed from life) and imagination (its existence and meaning bound to the paper or canvas and painted or drawn marks out of which it appears).  In this way too, the body becomes emotive. At this point in the development of a work there is a feeling, on my part, of commitment to the work and a fidelity to the story that is presenting itself.   The focus becomes fine-tuned and the extraneous elements in a work are stripped away.  The figure is the central means of realizing the narrative, working essentially with form as a means of communication.

bio

born:1971, United Kingdom

education:

University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, M.A.F.A., 1999
Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa, B.A.F.A., 1994

selected awards/honors

Above & Beyond Award for outstanding contribution to Art, Music & Performing Arts Enrichment in Livermore school district, California, 2011
Postgraduate Merit Scholarship, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, 1997, 1998
Postgraduate Merit Award, Centre for Scientific Development, South Africa, 1997
Rowney Prize for Best Painting Student, Rhodes University, South Africa, 1993

selected publications

Rhodes University Press, "Expression in the depiction of tactility", by Zamuxolo Matiwana, 14th February 2011
The SA Art Times, "The Rhodes Art School and the Influence of the Grahamstown Group" by Jeanne Wright, June 2010, p. 6-10
The Independent newspaper, Livermore, CA, "Students Sample Music and Art through FAME"  by Patricia Koning, May 27th 2010, p. 4, Arts & Education
Financial Mail, South Africa, "Worcester sauce, blood and coffee" by Michael Coulson, 9 June 2000, Arts and Leisure

selected solo or two-person exhibits

Manifest Gallery, Solo exhibition: "The Emergent Body: Paintings and Drawings by Thomasin Dewhurst", Cincinnati, Ohio, 2011
iArt Gallery, "Tactility: denial and desire" with Cobus Haupt, South Africa, 2009  
The Bill Ainslie Gallery, Solo Exhibition of oil paintings, watercolours and sculptures, South Africa, 2000
Rhodes University Fine Art Gallery, Solo Exhibition of Drawings, Grahamstown National Arts Festival, South Africa, 1994

selected group shows

Fontbonne University Art Gallery, "The Figure Now" (drawing exhibition), 2011
Manifest Gallery, "NUDE 2", Cincinnati, Ohio, 2010
Torpedo Factory Art Center: Target Gallery, "WomanMade" exhibition, 2010
Everard Read Gallery, "Great South African Nudes", South Africa, 2009