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C. David Thomas, Hon. DFA


SIGNIFICANT HONORS

  • Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts, Maine College of Art and Design, 2016

  • President, The Boston Printmakers, 2007-09

  • RISD Alumni Leadership and Service Award, 2003

  • Fulbright Senior Scholar Grant to Vietnam, 2002-03

  • Vietnam Art Medal (First foreigner to receive this highest art honor), 1999

  • Faculty Excellence Award, Emmanuel College, 1997

  • Nominated for the Vietnam Peace Prize, 1996​

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EDUCATION

  • Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI. Master of Fine Arts, 1976

  • School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA. Fifth year Certificate, 1975

  • Tufts University, Medford, MA. BFA, 1974

  • School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA. Diploma, 1974

  • Portland School of Art, (now Maine College of Art and Design) Portland, ME. Diploma, 1968


LEADERSHIP

  • Founder and Director of the Indochina Arts Partnership (IAP) - 1987-2019

    • This non-profit organization promoted cultural and artist exchanges with Vietnam to support reconciliation between the US and countries of Southeast Asia.

  • Grants in support of the IAP programming (selected list):

    • Rockefeller Foundation Grant 1996-97

    • Ford Foundation Grant 1994-99

    • Asian Cultural Council Grant 1993, 1995

    • National Endowment for the Arts, Travel Grant 1992

  • Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) 1991

  • Kellogg Foundation, Expert-in-Residence, Battle Creek, MI

  • Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation 1989; Beyond War - Regional Award, Newton 1989

  • Arts Lottery Grant, Newton, MA 1987,1989

  • Massachusetts Artists Fellowship, Finalist 1989


TEACHING

  • Hanoi Fine Arts University, Hanoi,Vietnam, Sr. Fulbright Scholar 2002-2003

  • Emmanuel College, Boston, MA, Professor of Studio Art 1976-2001


TEACHING: Special Projects

  • Lasell University, Auburndale, MA– Special International Programs ‘Shoulder to Shoulder’ Vietnam 2014-16

  • Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA International Programs to Vietnam 2001-2016

  • Member of 3-person delegation to Vietnam to initiate a Sister School Program 2001

  • Eight student group trips 2002 - 2016

  • Vietnam Fine Arts Museum, Hanoi, Vietnam, Special Projects in Marketing and Graphics 2001-2003

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PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS

  • The Boston Printmaker’s, Executive Board, 1976-2016

  • Founding Member of Gallery NAGA, Newbury Street, Boston, MA

    • Executive Board, 1981-1988, Executive Board Chairman, 1982-1987

  • Maine College of Art, Board of Trustees, 1982-1987

  • Veterans for Peace, Hanoi Chapter, 1997- present


MILITARY

  • U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Pleiku, South Vietnam/El Paso TX, 1968-1971

Talk Vietnam: Interview with David Thomas on VTV4

EXHIBITIONS
More than twenty-five one person and over 100 group exhibitions, most recent:

 

  • ‘Finding Parkinson’s – Doing Battle with my Brain’

  • ICA at Maine College of Art and Design, Portland, ME ‘Finding Parkinson’s’ selected works, March, 2022

  • Meeting House Gallery, Freeport, ME. May 2023

  • Macy Gallery, Teacher’s College, Columbia University, NYC

  • June 2023

  • Danang Museum of Fine Arts, Danang, Vietnam March 2023

  • National Museum of Fine Arts, Hanoi, Vietnam April 2023


PERMANENT COLLECTIONS (selected list)

  • Addison Gallery of American Art at Phillips Academy, Andover, MA

  • San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

  • Boston Museum of Fine Art

  • Philadelphia Museum of Art

  • Decordova Museum

  • Portland Museum of Art

  • Yale University

  • Harvard University

  • Cornell University

  • Brown University

  • University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

  • University of Chicago

  • Boston Public Library

  • New York Public Library

  • National Museum of Fine Arts, Hanoi, Vietnam

  • RISD Museum

  • Federal Reserve Bank, Boston, U.S.

  • Army Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

  • Brooklyn Museum

  • Swarthmore College

  • Wellesley College

  • Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

  • Boston Athenaeum


CURATOR OF EXHIBITIONS

  • “As Seen by Both Sides: American and Vietnamese Artists Look at the War.” 1990-1998

    • This exhibition contained twenty American and twenty Vietnamese artists and the subject was the American War in Vietnam. The exhibition traveled to sixteen U.S. and three Vietnamese Museums.

  • “An Ocean Apart: Contemporary Vietnamese Art from the United States and Vietnam” 1992-1997

    • An exhibition of contemporary art work by twenty Vietnamese and twenty Vietnamese-American artists organized for the Smithsonian Institution’s Traveling Exhibition Service.​​

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