Statement
My practice is an attempt to make sense of a seemingly impenetrable and overwhelmingly violent human history, and to emerge from it with tenderness. I examine the power dynamics that are intertwined in that broader history and my personal experience. I grew up in the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea, daughter to missionaries working in the postcolonial South Pacific. From my upbringing to my current life in Texas, place has shaped my practice. I look for resonances of memory embedded in landmarks, language, records, and geography – all of which I research and reimagine in a search to understand the power structures that influenced my family and national history, and that influence the increasingly tenuous state of the world today. In drawings, books, and wall hangings, I make new relationships between textual and visual sources from my research. Drawing and sewing processes are central to my work, grounding me in a slow and empathetic rumination. The pace of the work and the materials I incorporate make it necessary to spend time with images that carry baggage, and during that time my understanding of them shifts, my curiosity expands, and the imagery acquires new meaning.
BIO
Corrie Thompson (b. Los Angeles) is an artist and educator whose work is grounded in drawing and history. She makes drawings, books, and wall hangings that examine the power dynamics connecting the personal to the historic. Thompson grew up between the United States, Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea and currently lives in Fort Worth, TX. She received an MFA in Studio Art at Texas Christian University in 2022, and a BA in Fine Art from North Park University in Chicago in 2013. In 2022, she cofounded Easyside, a nonprofit seeking alternative methods of creation and care to equip artists and feed communities in East Fort Worth. She has been awarded residencies at Wildacres and Centrum, as well as undertaking a self-directed Artist-Residency-in-Motherhood, a project made available by artist Lenka Clayton. Her work has been exhibited in Illinois, Minnesota, Indiana, and Texas, with recent exhibitions at the Old Jail Art Center, Blind Alley Projects, and Arts Fort Worth.
CV
Education
2022 Texas Christian University, MFA in painting
2013 North Park University, BA in fine art
2012 University of Malta (exchange)
Selected Exhibitions
2023
Near + Far, Tukiye Earthquake Benefit Exhibition, The Pool: Near Southside, Fort Worth, TX
Time, Memory, Mythos, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL
Localities, Arts Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX
Drought and Deluge, solo exhibition at Old Jail Art Center’s Cell Series, Albany, TX
150 Years / 150 Artists, Fort Worth Contemporary Arts, Fort Worth, TX
2022
Interior Survey, solo exhibition at Carlson Tower Gallery, North Park University, Chicago, IL
Gleaning, two-person exhibition with Adrianna Touch at Arts Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX
Forward and Backward, solo installation at Blind Alley Projects, Fort Worth, TX
Pillar of Salt, MFA thesis solo exhibition at Moudy Gallery, Fort Worth, TX
2021
Gleaning, two-person exhibition with Adrianna Touch at Moncrief Cancer Institute, Fort Worth, TX
Denotes, PRP Agency, Dallas TX
New Texas Talent, Craighead Green Gallery, Dallas, TX
Now|Contemporary, Art Room, Fort Worth Community Art Center, Fort Worth, TX
Annual Juried Student Exhibition, Moudy Gallery, Fort Worth, TX
Softer Fields: MFA Candidacy Exhibition by Fernando Alvarez, Doug Land., Corrie Thompson, and Adrianna Touch, Fort Worth Contemporary Arts, Fort Worth, TX
2020
Small Works, Fort Worth Community Art Center, Fort Worth, TX
Postcards of Positivity, During the Pandemic, Artinity and The Goss-Michael Foundation, Dallas, TX
Annual Juried Student Exhibition, Moudy Gallery, Fort Worth, TX
College Expo, 500X Gallery, Dallas TX
2019
Four Currents, Moudy Project Space, Fort Worth, TX
In Good Taste, 516 Fabrication St., Dallas, TX
Resource Library, Extended Self: Transformations and Connections, Extended Practice, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL
MFA Round 2, Moudy Project Space, Fort Worth, TX
Alumni Triennial, Carlson Tower Gallery, North Park University, Chicago, IL
2018
Image + Text, Carlson Tower Gallery, North Park University, Chicago, IL
Firsts and Starts, Roman Susan Gallery, Chicago, IL
Labors: An Exhibition Exploring the Complexities of Motherhood, Pearl Conard Gallery, Ohio State University, Mansfield, OH
The 7th Annual Square Foot Show, The Arts of Life, Glenview, IL
2017
Welcome Blanket, Smart Museum of Art, Chicago, IL
How We Make It, Circle Contemporary Gallery, Chicago, IL
2016
La Mère | La Mer St. Mary’s University, Winona, MN and St. Mary’s College, South Bend, IN
How We Make It, The Arts of Life, Chicago, IL
Collective: Observations, Emergent Gallery, Aurora, IL
The 5th Annual Square Foot Show, The Arts of Life, Glenview, IL
2015
3rd Annual Juried Artists’ Books Exhibition, Fort Worth Community Art Center, Fort Worth, TX
Collective: For(age)ing, Hammond Arts Center, Hammond, IN
2014
How We Make It, Circle Contemporary, Gallery, Chicago, IL
2013
Visions, BA thesis solo exhibition, Carson Tower Gallery, North Park University, Chicago, IL
Talks + Workshops
2023
Personal Practice + Nonprofit Work, visiting artist talk with Fernando Alvarez at University of Texas at Dallas
Personal History in Textile, visiting artist talk at Waxahachie Quilters Guild
Personal History in Textile, visiting artist talk at Cedar Hill Quilters Guild
2022
Interior Survey: How the Show Comes Together, visiting artist talk for Creative Guild at North Park University
Gleaning: Artist talk with Adrianna Touch, facilitated by Sara-Jayne Parsons, Arts Fort Worth
Drawing from the Collection: Women Painting Women with Corrie Thompson, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
2021
Drawing from the Collection for Children: Julie Bozzi’s American Donuts, with Corrie Thompson, The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
2021
Drawings from Beginning to End, guest artist lecture at North Park University for Tim Lowly
Publications + Press
Tulika Ladsariya and Angela Lopez, Shelter in Place Artist Mothers Work: A collection of works from the first six months of the Coronavirus Pandemic (2021)
Lenka Clayton, Mother’s Days, debuted in Labor: Motherhood & Art in 2020, University Art Museum at New Mexico State University, NM
Corrie Thompson, The Disembodiment of Being a Vessel, self-published, released at Read / Write Library, Chicago, IL on June 2, 2018,
Tim Ortiz, “Mysterious Feelings at Circle Contemporary,” Disparate Minds (blog), April 12, 2018
Awards + Residencies
2021 Graduate Research Support Fund, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX
2021 Best in Show, Annual Juried Student Exhibition, juried by Winnie Sidharta
2020 Graduate Research Support Fund, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX
2019 Graduate Research Support Fund, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX
2019 – 2022 Graduate Fellowship, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX
2017 – 2018 Artist Residency in Motherhood, Chicago, IL
2009 – 2013 Art Department Scholarship, North Park University, Chicago, IL
2009 – 2013 Presidential Scholarship, North Park University, Chicago, IL