WFA 2021 Home Schedule Explore the Film Guide Education Parties News+Reviews GET TICKETS
She may not be a household name, but Alma Thomas made many significant contributions in the 20th century art world with her use of color and unique style. Miss Alma Thomas: A Life in Color, captures the story and inspiration of her unorthodox path. Some of the lessons the film’s director, Cheri Gaulke, believes any creative can take from her journey are to stay focused, forge your own path, and you must give back to the community that helped you.
By Belton DeLaine-Facey
See the documentary Miss Alma Thomas: A Life in Color as part of Documentary Day on September 26 @ 2:25PM and September 29 @3PM at Cinema Village (22 East 12th Street) as part of New York City’s 10th Annual Winter Film Awards International Film Festival. Tickets now on sale!
Winter Film Awards Belton DeLaine-Facey had the pleasure of sitting down and talking with Gaulke about the film and her personal journey as an artist.
Alma Thomas held a lifelong passion for art but didn’t pursue it full-time until she retired from school teaching at the age of 68. The short documentary captures her pursuit and the impact her art has had through an array of art experts and those who personally knew her. The film wraps together a gift of the personality and drive so many get to experience through her work with narration from Alfre Woodard as Thomas acting as the bow on top.
As an artist herself, Gaulke has earned recognition in the Los Angeles art community and connected with Thomas’ journey and work in more ways than one. Since the 70s, Gaulke has been a working visual artist unafraid to work with new mediums and art forms. This includes an era when she focused on performance art, back when no one really knew what performance art was.
“It was a time where the art world felt small and intimate because we would go to each other’s performances and, ‘Oh, did you see what this person’s doing? And that person’s doing?’ It was liberating because we were inventing something. But we were also very much in dialogue with each other about what this thing could be…. I just laugh because now it feels like every single art school student is also a performance artist, like everybody’s a filmmaker and a performance artist these days.”
Gaulke’s exploration also included video art, which she feels added a new experience for the viewer. “Video art took a lot of different forms. And one of the things that was interesting about it in those early years was this idea of being live and interactive. A particular piece I did at that time was called Isolated Spaces. There would be a video monitor with a kind of abstract image in it. It might be the corner of a room or the edge of a staircase, and it sort of looked like a little abstract image. But what it was, was a live transmission of a camera somewhere else in the building. The idea was that you would go you would partner with someone, and that person would find the camera and position themselves in that. Then, they would become part of the image. Then, the person who’s watching it is kind of witnessing this live painting, sculpture, you know, image. It’s very different than traditional film, which is usually telling a story. This is more abstract, but it’s also about a human interaction and a human relationship to the media.”
Considering her long career, it feels relatively recently that Gaulke began traditional filmmaking which has become an integral part of her work. For her, it was an expansion of her original medium of video in a way that could reach more people and preserve the art piece for longer.
“I did performance art for 18 years, and I was exhausted because I was having to schlep props and sets and costumes all over the country. People would experience performance, when it was over, it was over. You had some slides, usually not even any video documentation, and that was it. I realized that I could go back to my original medium of video, and go through all the same steps: producing, writing, figuring out the visuals, figuring out the sounds. It could all be captured into a video cassette, that could then be mailed to people. Then people could put it into a VHS player and watch it and have the experience.”
Her experience in both filmmaking and exhibition art made her a great candidate when producer Jon Gann approached her to direct a short documentary as part of a retrospective exhibit on Alma Thomas. Gaulke was immediately taken by her story but had one major hesitancy about taking on the project.
“Now, I did have a big hesitation. I’m white. The producer was white. The two curators are white. And I’m like, ‘Oh, my gosh. All these white people telling the story of this black woman artist.’ I felt uncomfortable by that. Although, I do think it is white people’s job to know about and promote the stories of others who may not have those opportunities to have their stories told. So, I raised that issue. I said, ‘I really think you should hire a black director,’ and they said, ‘Well, we think you’re the right person for it.’ And I said, ‘Okay, I will do it, as long as we can make sure that we hire a whole black crew, that the scholars that we interview, are primarily African American,’ as much as that as possible and appropriate. And they’re like, cool, and that’s what we did.”
Of course, filming during a pandemic presented its own set of challenges as Gaulke wasn’t even on the same side of the country as the main production. “So one of the funny things about this film is I have never met a single person who is in this film, or helped make it in the sense that I’ve never met them in real life…And it was completely shot in Washington, DC and I’ve been in Los Angeles the whole time.”
She was always part of the project thanks to a dedicated crew and modern technology. Facetime was helpful for location scouting and preproduction. When conducting the interviews, the crew was able to set up feeds so that she could watch both camera monitors and communicate with the crew on set. As helpful as it was Gaulke still wishes she could’ve been on set. Then again, would doing things the traditional way have been in the spirit of Alma Thomas?
Like Alma Thomas, the film crew found an unorthodox path to completing the film and created a moving tribute to one of the great artists of the 20th Century. It’s a great exploration for anyone interested in art.
Belton DeLaine-Facey
Belton is a passionate screenwriter, film director, and stand-up comedian. As well as research skills from his time earning a biology degree, he has developed a strong ability to mix satire and wit with storytelling. He makes short films as well as writes feature-length & pilot scripts, and performs stand-up comedy. Recently, his short film, America’s Dating Game, screened at the Oregon Short Film Festival and the Austin Comedy Film Festival. You can also check out his podcast, Film vs. Movie, which he hosts and produces with Chris Shurr. He’s currently developing a narrative podcast series, The Near Disaster.
About Winter Film Awards
New York City’s 10th Annual Winter Film Awards International Film Festival runs September 23-October 2 2021. Check out a jam-packed lineup of 91 fantastic films in all genres from 28 countries, including shorts, features, Animation, Drama, Comedy, Thriller, Horror, Documentary and Music Video. Hollywood might ignore women and people of color, but Winter Film Awards celebrates everyone!
Winter Film Awards is an all volunteer, minority- and women-owned registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded in 2011 in New York City by a group of filmmakers and enthusiasts. The program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the NY State Council on the Arts.
