Thomasin Dewhurst was born in the United Kingdom and moved to South Africa as a young child. She received her B.A.F.A. (with distinction) from Rhodes University, and her M.A.F.A. (with distinction) in Painting and History of Art from the University of the Witwatersrand.
Her work has been exhibited in both solo and group shows in various locations world-wide, including the Manifest Gallery (Cincinnati, Ohio), the Everard Read Gallery (Johannesburg, South Africa), the Bankhead Theater Gallery and the Figurehead Gallery (Livermore, CA), Hodnett Fine Art Gallery (Vancouver, Canada), the Blackheath Gallery (London, United Kingdom) and others.
Thomasin has been the recipient of numerous scholarships, bursaries and awards for her art and teaching, including an Above & Beyond Award for outstanding contribution to Art, Music & Performing Arts Enrichment in Livermore school district, California, and she has been included in many publications. Thomasin's work is part of a number of private and public permanent collections including the Gauteng legislature in South Africa and Ericsson South Africa (with around 20 of her watercolors). Currently Thomasin works as an artist and art instructor in the San Francisco Bay Area.
For more information on Thomasin, and to see examples of her work, please visit thomasindewhurst.com
"Drawing and painting is for me is a means of realizing emotional and philosophical ideas that are mainly conveyed through human form and flesh. This aesthetic emerges through the working and reworking of the figure or figures and the composition. The drawing or painting 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, as well as an atmosphere, as sense of space, and a sense of mystery and time passed. The drawn or painted object 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 object becomes an emotive gestalt. 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 work becomes an entity, seemingly in its own right, and a visual conversation begins between artist and artwork. 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 - conveyed through shadow and light - as a means of communication."