Tonya Solley Thornton
Twilight in the Valley
March 18 - May 7
San Francisco Chronicle - Tonya Solley Thornton by Reyhan Harmanci(April 13, 2006)
Drawing inspiration from Christmas light displays, parade floats, Disney World, The Aquacade, and other spectacles from past and present, Tonya Solley Thornton incorporates a mixture of craft and sculpture to give form to strange fantasy worlds that stimulate a sense of wonder, engage the imagination and allow the mind to wander.
Tonya lives and works in Oakland, California. She holds a BFA in studio art from Florida State University in Tallahassee, FL and an MFA in sculpture/installation from Mills College in Oakland. Since moving to the Bay Area from Florida, she has shown at the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, the Headlands Center for the Arts, Southern Exposure, the San Francisco Art Institute, The Lab and the Oakland Art Gallery, among others. She was the recipient of the Headlands MFA Studio Award (2005), The Jay Defeo Award (2005), The Murphey Fine Arts Fellowship (2004), the Elkind Fellowship (2004) and the Herringer prize for excellence (2004).
