Lynn Thomsen, artist and educator, passed away Jan. 3.
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In Memoriam: Lynn Thomsen
Jan 16, 2008
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Excellent teacher, good friend
by Letter to the Editor
Jan 30, 2008
In Memoriam: Lynn Thomsen
by Barb Shoup Jan 16, 2008
When Lynn Thomsen and I traveled through France together in 1994, she carried a packet of blank cards wherever we went and made sketches on them, which she sprayed with fixative and sent home as postcards to family and friends. I was fascinated by what caught her eye. The pattern of stones beneath the running water of a river, the peeled paint of a shutter were as interesting to her, as worthy of her attention as the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre. She made a sketch of me to send to my husband — not at Monet’s Giverny, but in the corner of a straggly garden down the road amidst hollyhocks whose petals were crumbling to dust.
“You were made to set here to give voice to this, your own astonishment,” the writer Annie Dillard said. Lynn was astonished by everything, and spent her whole life spinning her astonishment into marvelous forms, imprinting herself on the world around her. Art and life were the same thing to her.
There she is in the whimsical living space she created, a loft in an old building on 30th Street, with hornets’ nests, still on their branches, hanging from the high ceiling and birds’ nests, rocks, shells, geodes — bits of the earth she collected, wandering. There’s a fabricated steel swing big enough to hold two people that she hung in the middle of the huge room. A gargantuan blackboard she salvaged from an old school and mounted in her kitchen, chalk tray included. A cat stairway with a nifty bridge to a sleeping perch — because every living being was accommodated in her life.
Lynn’s astonishment at being alive shimmers in her paintings hanging on the walls: luminous plowed fields, trees mirrored in summer-calm lakes — the light in them as real as the light pouring in through the huge loft windows.
You can see the fruits of it in the lives of hundreds of students whom she loved and taught, and who adored her, instinctively understanding that she was not only teaching art, but teaching them how to be. Her countless friends knew it when, again and again, she directed our attention to some small thing that made the world crack open in a way we’d never have imagined and, in doing so, lightened our heavy hearts.
Lynn’s time in the world she loved was far too short. But the light she made wherever she went will live among us always.
Comments on In Memoriam: Lynn Thomsen
Goodbye, my love
by Clifford Hull | Feb 22, 2008
Dearest Lynn,
Not only are you my wife and will always be, but you were my best friend, my teacher, my companion. You were such a gifted artist, and your work will live on for a long,long time. I see your presence in everything, and I miss you so very, very much. Your stepson, Clifford Jr. loves you and thanks you for all your love and encouragement. Thanks for sharing your life with me, Lynnie. It has so enriched my life. As in the poem of Catullus: Atque in perpetuum, uxor, ave atque vale.
Your adoring husband,
Clifford
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by Audrey Preuss Blessman | Jan 28, 2008
I don't know how to say goodbye to you, Lynn. I don't want to and I just can't. The fact is, I don't have to; You will always be with me.
I can say thank you: Thank you for making me want to be a better person, thank you for helping me keep my standards as a teaching professional high, thank you for demonstrating pure generosity to me, thank you for all the laughs, thank you for celebrating and loving my family, thank you for opening your home(s) to me and showing me all the beauty and love a house can contain. Thank you for introducing me to Clifford. How blessed I am to know him and to have seen you two together. What you had in your union was inspiring and precious; you were magnificent. I am so blessed to have known you and to have your "fingerprints" in my life. The impression you made on me continues and I promise to pass your beauty on to my children.
You will always be with me, Lynn. Rest in peace my beautiful friend! I love you!!!
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Lynn Thomsen
by Ann McGriffin | Jan 24, 2008
On January 3, 2008, artist Lynn Thomsen departed from our physical world. If you did not know her, just let me say that the art world lost one marvelous educator. She was my professor at Herron School of Art and taught me all about Design and Color Theory. Enrolling in Lynn’s classes meant that you would be pushed to her heights of wisdom and then on to find your own. There was no compromise with her expectations of students and she did it with a big heart full of devotion for both art and the artist. Not only was Lynn an excellent teacher, she was also a good friend. She will be sadly missed by an art world in which she was desperately needed. Now she sits with her muse, Albers.
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Lynn Thomsen
by An longtime artist friend | Jan 18, 2008
Beyond being an amazing artist, Lynn was also a friend to so many artists. I had no idea she had left this world. But, just as she lived - she has quietly taken her place in the universe beyond our sight (but always in our hearts). Lynn was such a gentle soul with a spirit of giving, sharing and wishing the best for others.
Even when we would loose contact I always celebrated when I saw her (as I did right before the holidays). I was her student in college at Herron. I re-encountered Lynn when she first purchased the unique three-story building that would later become her home and studio. I was also fortunate to rent a studio there for 8 years. What I loved most about her was her ability to balance being the landlord , friend and fellow artist.
Right now - I can imagine her sitting somewhere watching the world and picking out the most beautiful and enormous sunsets, landscapes or just a simple flower to paint and draw. I can't imagine a world with out her. I know she will be missed by so many - but remembered forever. She taught many people (of all ages) so much about art, but also taught us how to live well.
Dedicated to Lynn's family, students and other artist friends. Carol
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