Growing up and living on the Texas Gulf Coast, my relationship with the environment is a source of wonder, contradiction, and conflict. My identity as a naturalist was heavily shaped by bird-watching, camping, hiking, and fishing. I learned about the world and found solace by observing animal behavior and exploring nature. I also remember washing tar from my feet at beaches littered with plastic and witnessing a colossal fireball from a refinery explosion. The oil, gas, and plastics industry that supported my family, my wife’s family, and most of our aunts, uncles, and cousins also caused illness, death, ecological destruction, war, and political turmoil.
My recent work explores the cognitive dissonance and anxiety created by conflicting needs, desires, and environmental consequences. I combine the emotions of remembered childhood trauma and family turmoil with the current existential and environmental fears shared by many people. I paint from news footage of actual petroleum and refinery fires including those in Texas City, Deer Park, Port Aransas, and the Gulf of Mexico. Combining this real energy and turmoil with imagery from found photographs and 35 mm slides of family road trips, special events, vacations and everyday life, the paintings represent points of mental conflict where someone could either react with defense mechanisms, make changes in thinking, or take actions.
Much as the Surrealists used the psychology of dreams and the collective unconscious, I use contemporary psychological theories of perception, trauma resolution, and personality development to guide my art. The paintings are models of my emotions and thinking where the interaction of the personal and the cultural can be visualized. Viewing anxiety and despair as a catalyst for positive change instead of mental illness contributes to the collective empowerment needed to overcome personal fears, sociopolitical injustice, and environmental existential threats such as climate change. The paintings provoke questions and may reveal insight about the way in which we react to and reconcile mental contradictions between the way things are and the way they could be.
Through art I consolidate many ideas into one experience and attempt to make multiple levels of meaning available through materials, metaphor, and symbolism.
Bio
Trent Thigpen earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in painting from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. His art training also includes sculpture, digital media, and ceramics. He has a Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies degree from the University of Houston-Victoria with concentrations in bioinformatics, computer science and communications. His interdisciplinary background includes six years working with emotionally disturbed children and adolescents. Trent’s art explores the intersection of art perception, psychology, information, and culture.
Art CV
Trent Alan Thigpen | ||
Education | 2019 | MFA, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX |
2004 | MAIS, University of Houston- Victoria, Victoria, TX | |
1988 | BBA, Marketing, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX | |
Professional Experience | 2015-Present | Program Manager, Pollution Prevention Partnership and AutoCheck,
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX |
2016-2023 | Adjunct Instructor, Fine Art
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX | |
2005-2015 | Associate Professor of Computer Science
Victoria College, Victoria, TX | |
2001-2005 | Assistant Professor of Computer Science
Victoria College, Victoria, TX | |
2007-2010 | Adjunct Instructor, Digital Gaming
University of Houston-Victoria, Victoria, TX | |
Teaching Experience | 2001-2018 | Drawing, Design, Color Theory, Painting, Interactive Multimedia, Web Design, Digital Video, Animation, Desktop Publishing, Digital Imaging, Digital Illustration, 3D Modeling, Game Engines, Animation for Gaming, PC Hardware, Introduction to Programming, Networking, Cyber-Security, Business Applications, Adobe Creative Suite, Maya 3D, Unreal Engine, Microsoft Office Suite |
Exhibitions | 2021 | Dimension XLVIII, Second Place painting, The Art Center of Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX |
2019 | Solo Exhibition– Positive Disintegration: Memories, Morals, and Other Combustibles, Weil Gallery Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX | |
Irene Rosenzweig Biennial Juried Exhibition,The Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas, Pine Bluff, AR | ||
La Merienda, Islander Gallery Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX | ||
VC Alumni Ceramics Exhibition, Fine Arts Gallery, Victoria College, Victoria, TX | ||
2018 | Faculty and Staff Art Exhibition, Mary and Jeff Bell Library, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX | |
Oso Bay Biennial XX: Children’s Painting Redux!, Islander Gallery Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX | ||
Lineage: Select Texas Faculty and their Students, Weil Gallery Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX | ||
La Merienda, Islander Gallery Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX | ||
2017 | anthroDEcentric, Shaudie Gallery at the studios of K Space Contemporary, Corpus Christi, TX | |
La Merienda, Islander Gallery Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX | ||
2016 | President’s Council Art Show, Islander Gallery Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX | |
Refaced: The Portrait Redefined, Hybrid Records, Corpus Christi, TX | ||
Rising Eyes of Texas, Rockport Center for the Arts, Rockport, TX | ||
La Merienda, Islander Gallery Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX | ||
Faculty and Staff Art Exhibition, Mary and Jeff Bell Library, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX | ||
Islander Cell Phone Photography Show, Mary and Jeff Bell Library at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, TX | ||
2015 | President’s Council Art Show, Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, TX | |
Solo Exhibition– What’s Past is Prologue: memories, fables, found and shaped things, Fine Arts Gallery, Victoria College, Victoria, TX | ||
2012 | Neuve Invention: art outside the mainstream, Florence Arthouse Studios, Victoria, TX | |
Student Art Show, Best in Show, ceramics, Victoria College, Victoria, TX | ||
2010 | Student Art Show, First Place, ceramics, Victoria College, Victoria, TX | |
Exhibitions Curated | 2018 | Are We There Yet?, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Undergraduate Student Art Exhibition, Co-curated with Clarissa Gonzalez, Islander Gallery, Corpus Christi TX |
2014 | Eye to Eye: Regional Portraits of Pioneers, Founders, Leaders, Citizens, Movers and Shakers, Co-curated with Gary Dunnam, The Nave Museum, Victoria, TX | |
Presentations and Workshops | 2018 | Surrealism and Radical Illusion in a Neobaroque World, Fake News Real Artists, TAMU-CC Fine Arts Graduate Student Symposium, Corpus Christi, TX |
2017 | Between a Rock and a Beautiful Place; Artistic Choice and Accountability, Artists in Situations, TAMU-CC Fine Arts Graduate Student Symposium, Corpus Christi, TX | |
2016 | Making New Knowledge Through Visual Arts Research, Media and Metaphor, TAMU-CC Fine Arts Graduate Student Symposium, Corpus Christi, TX | |
2010 | Democratization of Information: Power, Peril, and Promise, Phi Theta Kappa Induction Ceremony, keynote address, Victoria College, Victoria, TX | |
2009 | Digital Images and Editing with Photoshop- Training for public school teachers and students, Region III Education and Training, Victoria, TX | |
Digital Art: How Numbers Create Colors, Shapes, 3D Objects & Animations, Computer Science and Math Awareness Day University of Houston-Victoria | ||
2008 | Photo Correction with Photoshop Elements, Lifelong Learning Academy, Victoria College, Continuing Education, Victoria, TX | |
Professional Service | 2011-2015 | Exhibits Committee Member, art donations, web design and IT service, The Nave Museum, Victoria, TX |
2010-2015 | Art donation, Empty Bowls, Victoria College, Victoria, TX | |
2015 | Sculpture judge for Victoria College Welding Rodeo, Victoria, TX | |
2011 | Art donation, Red Cross Mash Bash, Victoria, TX | |
Bibliography | 2016 | Jennifer Epley and Joe Pena, “Iron Triangle and/or Issue Networks,” watercolor on paper, We The People: Power and Participation-Art Meets Politics in the Classroom at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, 2016 |
2013 | Barbara Sparkman, “Trent Thigpen: Interactive Mixed Media,” Victoria in Motion, Winter 2013 | |
2011 | Camille Doty, “Life Rises From Clay,” The Victoria Advocate, July 26, 2011 | |