Echo Tides

Date1991

Maker Barbara Earl Thomas American, born 1948

Label TextEvocative iconography appears throughout Echo Tides, a title the artist derived from looking into a tide pool where the water moves and what was once there is suddenly gone. Such fleeting transitions are expressed in the houses Thomas depicts, which tip and rock in waves that suggest a place where chaos is "shaking the foundation." Two icons manifest stability--a chicken signifies the gift of premonition, the ability to sense the oncoming disaster which "allows you to survive," and two open books reveal the artist's fascination with the ways in which memories and relationships are bound together over time.

Object number94.101

Exhibition HistoryBellingham, Washington, Whatcom Museum of History and Art, "One-person exhibition", 1994 (1994 - 1994) Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, "Northwest Acquisitions", March 1 - November 10, 1996. Seattle, Washington, Seafirst Gallery, "Neddy Artist Fellowship Exhibition", May 21 - June 26, 1998 (05/21/1998 - 06/26/1998) Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, "Africa in America", December 18, 2004 - January 1, 2006 Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, "Black Art", March 25, 2008 - November 9, 2008 (3/25/2008 - 11/9/2008) Bainbridge Island, Washington, Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, Barbara Earl Thomas: Heaven is on Fire, June 24 - October 2, 2016. No cat. no., p. 56, reproduced pp. 20-21. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Remember the Rain, August 18, 2023 - October 14, 2024 [on view August 18, 2023 - April 15, 2024].Published ReferencesHackett, Regina. "SAM's selectivity reflected in 'Recent Acquisitions' show," in Seattle Post-Intelligencer, March 8, 1996

Credit LineNorthwest Acquisition Fund

Dimensions22 3/4 x 49 3/4 in. (57.79 x 126.37 cm)

MediumTempera on paper