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
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
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, UCLA, Boston Museum of Fine Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Decordova Museum, Portland Museum of Art, Yale University, Harvard University, Cornell University, Brown
University, 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, Brooklyn Museum, Swarthmore College, Wellesley College, Library of Congress, Boston Athenaeum, University of Chicago.
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.
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