2015 AN OVERVIEW OF THE RICH CAREER OF ARTIST SOLOMON THURMAN IS PRESENTED

IN NEW EXHIBIT AT SHELDON ART GALLERIES

ST. LOUIS, MO - The Sheldon Art Galleries presents

Solomon Thurman: An Artistic Practice, June 5 – September 19, 2015

in the Bellwether Gallery of St. Louis Artists. An opening reception is

scheduled for Friday, June 5 from 5 – 7 p.m. Galleries are open until 9

p.m. for First Fridays in Grand Center. The Sheldon Art Galleries are

open Tuesdays, Noon – 8 p.m.; Wednesdays - Fridays, Noon – 5 p.m.;

Saturdays, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. and one hour prior to Sheldon performances

and during intermission. Admission is free. For more information on

exhibitions, visit the galleries’ website at TheSheldon.org. The exhibition

is made possible by Nancy and Kenneth Kranzberg.

Encompassing over 40 years of work in painting, drawing, and sculpture, this exhibition presents an overview of the rich

career of Solomon Thurman. In these years, Thurman has focused primarily on the American experience with an emphasis on

the African Diaspora. Creating work from his own personal history and documented historical events, Thurman’s narratives

are told in vibrant colors and expressive brush strokes. The exhibition includes works from his tour-de-force Personal Migration

series, which was created to celebrate the life of Thurman’s grandmothers, Lillie and Johnnie Mae, who were second

generation former slaves from the Mississippi Delta, as well as works from his Songs of the Field and recent Highway Landscapes

series, among others.

Born in St. Louis, Solomon Thurman is an artist, researcher, and teacher. He received a liberal arts degree from Forest Park

College in 1978, and graduated from Graphique Commercial Art Institute in 1980. Thurman has also won numerous public art

commissions throughout St. Louis, including the Black Americans in Flight mural at Lambert Airport (co-designed with

Spencer Taylor) and a work for the Black World History Museum. He is owner of 10th Street Gallery in downtown St. Louis,

and a community outreach instructor at the Saint Louis Art Museum. His work has been the focus of numerous one-person

and group exhibitions in United States, Canada and Brazil.