James B. Thompson: Fragments in Time explores the development of
Thompson's work over the past two decades, from his Certain Situations
series of the mid-1990s to his more recent Forgotten Biography of Tools
series from 2015. Bob Hicks best describes Thompson's work: "[it]
grapples with the perplexing issues of cultural and geological change.
[Thompson] ranges freely through ancient and forgotten forms to
confront the mysteries and fractures of the universe, investigating not
just the abandoned and the unknown, but the limits and possibilities of
the art forms, often with understated wit."
James B. Thompson was born in Chicago in 1951 and received his MFA from
Washington University in 1977. Since 1986, Thompson has been a member of
the art faculty at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, where he
teaches courses in painting, printmaking, drawing, and design. His art
has appeared in numerous solo and group exhibitions throughout the
United States and is included in public and private collections
throughout the United States and Europe. Thompson is recognized as one
of the most interesting and innovative artists in Oregon, and the Hallie
Ford Museum of Art is proud to honor him with this twenty-year
retrospective.