Wendy Thon
A response to Melanie Rae Thon
Process Notes
My entry into this response came through an etching I had done called rock house, which recalls the enumerations of various kinds of rock in The Good Samaritan Speaks. I would use a part of this as the basis for a collage in which I would add saguaros and agave from other etchings as well as the painted pieces of the joyful leaping hare and the leaf-like hanging bats.
On a trip to India we saw hundreds of these fruit bats called the Indian flying fox hanging from a tree mid-day by the side of the road. I would have loved to see one in flight, though with up to a 6 ft. wing-span it would have been a bit intimidating.
I love attaching the word good (and beautiful) to those things that seem dangerous and intimidating.
Responses to Melanie Rae Thon's Work
Wendy Thon
Wendy Thon has been showing at the Lisa Harris gallery in Seattle for over 25 years (www.lisaharrisgallery.com). She graduated from the University of Michigan with a major in painting and a minor in sculpture. During the early part of her career she worked primarily in printmaking selling her work throughout the US and abroad. Her etchings have been in shows in Belgium, Spain, France, Germany, Japan, Cyprus, New Zealand, Mexico and the US.
For the last 20 years she has worked primarily in acrylic on paper, mixed media, and acrylic painting on low relief wall sculpture.
Her work is found in many collections including the Gordon and Vivien Gilkey Print collection at the Portland Art museum in Oregon, the Museum of Art in Missoula, Montana, the University of Washington Medical Center, Washington State University, the Queensborough College in New York, Pacific University in Oregon and the Library of Congress.