Thom Ross is an artist based in Lamy, NM, known for

painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

, book illustrations, and

installation art Installation art is an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific art, site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior intervent ...

featuring life-sized cutout figures depicting famous people and historical events.

Biography

Ross was born in

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

in 1952, and raised in Sausalito. As a child he became interested in the history of the

American Old West The American frontier, also known as the Old West, and popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that bega ...

by watching television shows such as ''

Bonanza ''Bonanza'' is an American Western television series that ran on NBC from September 12, 1959, to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 431 episodes, ''Bonanza'' is NBC's longest-running Western, the second-longest-running Western series on ...

'', '' Rawhide'', and ''

Have Gun – Will Travel ''Have Gun – Will Travel'' is an American Westerns on television, Western television series that was produced and originally broadcast by CBS on both television and radio from 1957 through 1963. The television version of the series starring Ri ...

'', as well as

John Wayne Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne, was an American actor. Nicknamed "Duke", he became a Pop icon, popular icon through his starring roles in films which were produced during Hollywood' ...

films. In 1974 he earned a degree in fine arts from California State University, Chico. Ross had what he describes as an "epiphany" on June 25, 1976, at the hundredth anniversary commemoration of Custer's Last Stand at the Battle of Little Bighorn, after sitting through a windstorm and observing protesters from the

American Indian Movement The American Indian Movement (AIM) is an Native Americans in the United States, American Indian grassroots movement which was founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota in July 1968, initially centered in urban areas in order to address systemic issues ...

as well as supporters of General

George Armstrong Custer George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars. Custer graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point ...

. He decided as an artist to portray iconic American people and events in new ways to bring out a more complex story than the traditional historical myths. He soon moved to

Jackson Hole, Wyoming Jackson Hole (originally called Jackson's Hole by mountain men) is a valley between the Gros Ventre Range, Gros Ventre and Teton Range, Teton mountain ranges in the U.S. state of Wyoming, near the border with Idaho, in Teton County, Wyoming, T ...

. His first of two daughters was born in 1984. He subsequently lived in

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

and in

Palm Springs, California Palm Springs (Cahuilla language, Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Rivers ...

, supporting himself as a waiter in order to paint. He moved to

Ballard, Washington Ballard is a List of neighborhoods in Seattle, neighborhood in northwestern Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, United States. Formerly an independent city, the Government and politics of Seattle, City of Seattle's official boundaries defi ...

in 1991. Most recently he has relocated to Santa Fe, New Mexico and opened his own art galler

Due West Gallery

Works

Ross works in various media including Painting, book illustration, and life-sized recreations of historical scenes. Favorite subjects include

Cowboy A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the ''vaquero'' ...

s, Indians, and historical battles in the American

Indian Wars The American Indian Wars, also known as the American Frontier Wars, and the Indian Wars, was a conflict initially fought by European colonial empires, the United States, and briefly the Confederate States of America and Republic of Texas agains ...

. Ross has illustrated at least 20 books, including a history of baseball. In 2001 Ross published a book, ''Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Words and Pictures''. In 2002 Ross illustrated the 100th anniversary edition of

Owen Wister Owen Wister (July 14, 1860 – July 21, 1938) was an American writer. His novel ''The Virginian (novel), The Virginian'', published in 1902, helped create the cowboy as a folk hero in the United States and built Wister's reputation as the " ...

's novel, '' The Virginian''. Ross' first plywood installation was a 1976 cutout of

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western (genre), Western TV series ''Rawhide (TV series), Rawhide'', Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Ma ...

, which he and a friend placed as a prank above a railroad trestle to recreate a scene from Dirty Harry in the location where the scene had been filmed five years earlier. In 1983 Ross created "154 Nevermore", an installation of 154 plywood ravens on a highway in Jackson, Wyoming (recreated in steel in 2000). In 1984, Ross created "the Catch", a diorama for the

Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by a private foundation. It serves as the central collection and gathering space for the history of baseball in the United S ...

illustrating a legendary catch with the same nickname, by

Willie Mays Willie Howard Mays Jr. (May 6, 1931 – June 18, 2024), nicknamed "the Say Hey Kid", was an American professional baseball center fielder who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of ...

in the 1954 World Series. He created a new version of the work in 2004, and displayed it in various locations in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. In 1998 Ross created "The Defining Moment" for SAFECO Field, a tableau of 11 steel cutouts of a Ken Griffey, Junior play in the 1995 baseball playoffs. Ross' 2005 work, "Custer's Last Stand", was a recreation of life-sized warriors riding life-sized horses the Battle of Little Bighorn at the original site at Medicine Tail Coulee in

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

. That exhibit toured

Cody, Wyoming Cody is a city in and the county seat of Park County, Wyoming, United States. It is named after Buffalo Bill Cody for his part in the founding of Cody in 1896. The population was 10,028 at the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census, making Cod ...

, Jackson, Wyoming, and

Sun Valley, Idaho Sun Valley is a resort city in the western United States, in Blaine County, Idaho, adjacent to the city of Ketchum in the Wood River valley. The population was 1,783 at the 2020 census. The elevation of Sun Valley (at the Lodge) is above se ...

. In September, 2008 Ross recreated a 1902 photograph of Buffalo Bill Cody and his "Wild West Show", his traveling troupe of Native Americans, in front of the Cliff House at Ocean Beach.

References

External links

- Gallery Representation
DueWestGallery.com
- official site retrieved via Archive.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Ross, Thom 1952 births Living people Artists from San Francisco Artists from Seattle People from Sausalito, California