Kim Schmitt Thomas
Kim Schmitt Thomas was born in 1970 in the Hell’s Kitchen area of NYC to two young actors, then later raised in nearby Bergen County, NJ, where she currently works and resides with her twin girls, Dylan and Layla. Her early childhood was often spent drawing caricatures of flamboyant dancers and actors in theatre wings and dressing rooms, after being inspired by an Al Hirschfeld drawing of her mom, Lee Meredith, in The Sunshine Boys. She also spent many afternoons studying graffiti covered billboards on the streets of NYC while bar hopping for Shirley Temples with her babysitter, a retired longshoreman named Pat Flannery. Those colorful early years, along with her own extensive training in dance, acting, and illustration have had a great influence on the strong and dynamic line quality and use of vibrant color displayed throughout her work. Whether she is painting abstracts, or twisted and intertwined figures and faces, Kim’s work celebrates everyday life with all its twists and turns, ups and downs, joy and pain.
In the late 80s, Kim majored in Illustration at the University of Bridgeport, and then Montclair State University, but she will admit that her best education as an expressive painter came simply from a lifetime of self-reflection. Kim also attended the 2 year performing arts academy, The Neighborhood Playhouse, NYC, where she received rigorous training in acting and dance, while freelancing as an illustrator, designing program covers for small NYC theatre companies, as well as creating animated logos for the TV/film production company, Bert Stratford Productions. Kim also worked as an interior artist/muralist for many years, but since 2001, she has focused primarily on her studio work, which is her main passion, and has been represented by CINQ Gallery, Dallas, TX., since 2017. Kim’s work hangs in both private and corporate collections across the country, and has been featured in The New York Times, Dallas Style & Design Magazine, The Bergen Record, and (201) Magazine.
