Thomas Agran, working in his studio

I remember instructing Thomas Agran to look for a small, gray-haired woman at the Grinnell College’s Bucksbaum Center for the Arts opening for the summer of 2009’s exhibit.

I had a few pieces in the show, and I wanted to meet Thomas and visit his studio during the same trip to Grinnell. I felt more than a bit lame using such a generic description that would easily apply to a third of the women likely to attend the event. I don’t remember how Thomas described himself to me so that I might recognize him, but I did pick him out rather quickly in the crowded gallery. He has a shock of very dark brown hair that shoots out at dramatic angles framing his affable features.

This meeting had been machinated because Victoria Brown, a tenured history professor at Grinnell, had encouraged me to contact Thomas. She believed his work to be “remarkable”. Victoria’s is not an opinion to be taken lightly, and I contacted Thomas very shortly after our conversation- making arrangements for a studio visit.

I wasn’t disappointed. Craig and I viewed work from Thomas’s senior thesis show. It’s scale, painterly fluency, and conceptual punch gave the work all the power Victoria had described and more.

A year out of undergraduate work, Thomas has continued an exploration of aerial landscapes on colossally sized canvases. I’m so pleased to announce that an exhibit of this exciting young artist’s work will open to the public at Campbell Steele Gallery next Friday, June 16. Thomas has said that he’ll attend the Music in the MUD events next weekend- might be just the time to meet a fantastic new artist to the gallery and enjoy an evening of visual art and musical performance.