Barbara Earl Thomas

Barbara Earl Thomas (born 1948) was the executive director of Seattle's Northwest African American Museum from 2008 until 2013 and is a noted painter and writer.

Thomas was the granddaughter of southern sharecroppers who migrated to Seattle in the mid 1940s. She is a Seattle native. She graduated from the University of Washington (U.W.) in 1973, then studied at the University of Grenoble in France (1976) before returning to U.W. to complete a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1977. Her parents died in a fishing accident in 1988.

Thomas was the executive director of the Northwest African American Museum (2006–2013). She stepped down from her full-time job in January 2013 and has become NAAM's Deputy Director/Major Gifts Officer, a part-time post.

Thomas studied art under Jacob Lawrence. She works in many mediums including doing egg tempera paintings and linocuts and woodblock prints. In 2013, she had a solo show at Paper Hammer where she displayed 14 prints from two series, The Reading Room and The Book of Fishing. Thomas has exhibited artwork at the Seattle Art Museum, The Tacoma Art Museum, and Whatcom County Museum and in museums throughout the US.

The Judkins Park light rail station, located adjacent to the Northwest African American Museum, will feature artwork from Thomas as part of Sound Transit's public art program.

Storm Watch: The Art of Barbara Earl Thomas (published 1998 by University Washington Press)

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