Terri Thornton, an artist and the former Curator of Education at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, died on Tuesday, December 17, 2024.
Terri Thornton
Mary Theresa Thornton, who went by Terri for most of her life, was born on July 8, 1958, to John Thomas and Carroll Leah Thornton. She was one of four daughters and grew up in Nacogdoches, where her father was a professor at Stephen F. Austin University. Ms. Thornton graduated from Nacogdoches High School in 1976 and served on the yearbook team that year.
Terri Thornton, Nacogdoches High School, 1976
Terri Thornton and her daughter, Alec
In 1980, Ms. Thornton earned a BFA from the University of North Texas in Denton. From 1982 to 1989, she served as an art teacher at Newman Smith High School in Carrollton. In 1985, she gave birth to her daughter, Alec Nicole Youngblood. The same year she took on the additional role of Fine Arts Department Chair at Newman Smith, a position she held until 1989 when she left the school. In 1990, Ms. Thornton earned an MA from the University of Dallas (UD) and two years later she earned an MFA from the same university. While a student at UD, she served as an adjunct faculty member of the Department of Art and Art History. Also during her time at UD, Ms. Thornton met fellow artist and educator Cameron Schoepp, who she married on May 29, 1993.
After earning her MFA, Ms. Thornton taught as an adjunct at the University of Texas in Arlington and Texas Christian University (TCU). During this time she was a frequent visitor to the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, gaining the attention of Michael Auping, the then-Chief Curator at the museum who was looking to fill the open position of Curator of Education. Ms. Thornton was hired in 1994 and remained in that role for nearly 30 years, retiring in 2023.
She may be best known for her work programming the Tuesday Evenings at the Modern lecture series, which brought artists such as Trenton Doyle Hancock, Kara Walker, Robyn O’Neil, and Barry McGee, as well as local and regional artists, to speak each fall and spring.
Andrea Karnes, Chief Curator at the Modern, told Glasstire, “Terri’s attitude was incredibly inspiring. She led with being an artist, and with engaging with people first always — family, friends, artists, students, colleagues, and community. Many artists, whether they were local, national, or international, would leave the museum after an opening or Tuesday Evening talk and single out Terri, expressing how much they appreciated her thoughtful questions, her sense of humor, or just how deeply she thought about art. So many of us loved her and learned from her. Knowing her was a privilege that is hard to describe or even fully understand in this time of grief, but her memory and her beautiful spirit will remain with us.”
Terri Thornton at the Modern
As the head of the department, Ms. Thornton helped to shape all aspects of the museum’s educational programming including summer art camps, the Teen/Artist Project, Slow Art tours, public tours, and the Modern Billings program. Above all, Ms. Thornton was committed to creating artist-led and art-centered programs. She built her education team with practicing artists, advocated for fair pay for artists who led programs, and insisted on keeping programs like the lecture series free to decrease barriers for people interested in attending.
Just two years after beginning her career at the Modern, Ms. Thornton had her second child, August Whitaker Thornton Schoepp. Her husband, Mr. Schoepp, noted that Ms. Thornton was “the proudest mother in the world… She was a mother first, and everything else second.”
Terri Thornton at the wedding of Erika Duque and Bryan Scully, 2019.
Tiffany Wolf Smith, a longtime educator at the Modern who was named Curator of Education earlier this year, explained that Ms. Thornton was “a surrogate mother for a lot of folks, a matriarch of the local arts community.” Ms. Wolf Smith met Ms. Thornton more than 20 years ago, when she was an undergraduate student at TCU. She noted how Ms. Thornton shaped her life in a multitude of ways, not only in her career, but also supporting her through significant moments and milestones. She said, “She really was a constant reminder of my own capabilities when I would forget, or get frustrated, or feel insecure… she and Cam both have been present for all of the big important parts of my adult life.”
Terri Thornton in her studio, 2013. Photo by Lindsey Larsen.
Throughout her life, Ms. Thornton balanced her care for her children and family with her work at the Modern, supporting the artist community, and her own artistic practice. Mr. Schoepp explained that while Ms. Thornton was inspired by artists like Cy Twombly, Agnes Martin, Robert Ryman, and Richard Tuttle, she was also an avid reader who drew inspiration from a variety of poets, philosophers, and other writers. Mr. Schoepp remarked, “Terri worked at the edge of ethereal. Her work was so soft and subtle, it was barely there.”
Terri Thornton in her studio, 2013. Photo by Lindsey Larsen.
Terri Thornton, “Otherwise, silence,” 2023-2024, graphite and colored pencil on rag and hot press archival paper, 47 x 34 inches
Earlier this year, Matthew Bourbon wrote about Ms. Thornton’s drawing Otherwise, silence on view at Barry Whistler Gallery. He said, “The visceral impression of the drawing suggests that it was lovingly pulled into existence. Delicate touches and gradations interweave to build a soft and deliberate surface that feels as much interior as exterior… What is absolutely clear is how masterfully Thornton unites our looking with her looking — how she leads us to share her sensitivity of touch. We are invited inside her act of creation such that the digesting of her drawing proves both beguiling and genuinely felt.”
Last week, when Ms. Thornton’s death was announced, hundreds of artists and arts professionals, some local and others scattered across the U.S., turned to social media to share remembrances and collectively celebrate her life and mourn the collective loss. In her 66 years, Ms. Thornton impacted and shaped the lives of many. She emboldened artists through the opportunities she offered them at the Modern and beyond. She was family-oriented, but her idea of family was exponential and extended beyond her relatives to the ever-growing arts community.
Richard Wentworth: There’s no knowing.
Photo by Ralph Lauer
Ms. Thornton and her husband supported local and regional artists in a variety of ways, one of the most public being their establishment of Blind Alley Projects, an alternative gallery. The small, multi-purpose, vitrine-like structure was born out of the need for TCU MFA graduates to have a venue for their work during the COVID-19 pandemic closures. Located at the edge of Ms. Thornton and Mr. Schoepp’s property, the enclosed space offers drive-by viewing, though in recent years opening receptions have been held with many gathering to view and discuss the work.
Terri Thornton
Thomas Feulmer, Curator at the Warehouse, worked with Ms. Thornton at the Modern from 2002 to 2004. He told Glasstire, “Terri was, somewhat quietly, one of the most important people in the art world. She had a powerful moral compass (with respect to art and the world outside of art), and she never wavered from her own beliefs. She was an idealist, even a purist, in the best way possible. She could also be stubborn, but this was just a sign of her uncompromising nature. And she was also the most gracious, loving person. She met you where you were and supported so many people through their successes and challenges. She was the most purely empathetic person I’ve ever met.”
He continued, “Her way of seeing things metabolized in me and guided so much of my understanding of the world. Her voice was always with me in the most meaningful moments of my life. She was also surprisingly quotable, and I loved quoting her back to her to make her laugh. She was thinking about making a work once and described it as ‘a prototype for an idea’ which was absolutely beautiful and absurd, and we used that phrase to describe so many things in life afterwards.”
Thomas Feulmer and Terri Thornton
In a recent message from Ms. Thornton’s family posted to social media, they suggested that those wanting to help, consider “giving back through acts of kindness and donations.” Suggested organizations include Heather’s Old Skool Village, where Ms. Thornton’s son receives daily care and support; The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, where Ms. Thornton worked for nearly three decades; and MD Anderson, where Ms. Thornton received care throughout her cancer diagnosis for four years.
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