Margot Voorhies Thompson
Installation view
Installation view
Installation view
Installation view
Installation view
Installation view
Installation view
Installation view
Installation view
Installation view
Installation view
Margot Voorhies Thompson
Sacred Mountain, 2026
gouache on canvas
49.5 x 33.5 inches framed
Margot Voorhies Thompson
Lichen Maze, Rocky Cliff, 2026
gouache and etching collage on canvas
33.5 x 49.5 inches framed
Margot Voorhies Thompson
Visible Heaven: The Spheres, 2026
gouache and etching collage on canvas
33.5 x 49.5 inches framed
Margot Voorhies Thompson
Survival, Innovation, 2026
gouache, etching collage, and oyster shell on canvas
33.5 x 49.5 inches framed
Margot Voorhies Thompson
Deep Space, Night Sky, 2026
gouache and charcoal on watercolor paper
25 x 19 inches framed
Margot Voorhies Thompson
Open Space, 2025
gouache, vermillion, ink, and charcoal on watercolor paper
28.75 x 36.5 inches framed
Margot Voorhies Thompson
Vermillion Rising, 2026
gouache, vermillion, ink, and charcoal on watercolor paper
28.75 x 36.5 inches framed
Margot Voorhies Thompson
Volcano Country, Magma and Fire, 2026
gouache, vermillion, ink, and charcoal on watercolor paper
28.75 x 36.5 inches framed
Margot Voorhies Thompson
Wayfaring Symbols in the Land of Fire, 2026
gouache and charcoal on watercolor paper
25 x 19 inches framed
Margot Voorhies Thompson
Desert Cosmology, 2026
gouache and charcoal on watercolor paper
25 x 19 inches framed
Margot Voorhies Thompson
Land Written by Fire, 2026
gouache, vermillion, ink, and charcoal on watercolor paper
28.75 x 36.5 inches framed
Margot Voorhies Thompson
Desert Poem, Land of Myths, 2026
gouache and charcoal on watercolor paper
25 x 19 inches framed
Margot Voorhies Thompson
Transcendence, 2026
gouache and charcoal on watercolor paper
25 x 19 inches framed
Margot Voorhies Thompson
High Desert Canyon Country 1, 2026
gouache and charcoal on watercolor paper
14 x 16.25 inches framed
Margot Voorhies Thompson
High Desert Canyon Country 2, 2026
gouache and charcoal on watercolor paper
14 x 16.25 inches framed
Margot Voorhies Thompson
High Desert Canyon Country 3, 2026
gouache and charcoal on watercolor paper
14 x 16.25 inches framed
Margot Voorhies Thompson
High Desert Lichens 1, 2026
gouache and charcoal on watercolor paper
14.75 x 10.25 inches framed
Margot Voorhies Thompson
High Desert Lichens 2, 2026
gouache and charcoal on watercolor paper
14.75 x 10.25 inches framed
Margot Voorhies Thompson
High Desert Lichens 3, 2026
gouache and charcoal on watercolor paper
14.75 x 10.25 inches framed
Margot Voorhies Thompson
High Desert Lichens 4, 2026
gouache and charcoal on watercolor paper
14.75 x 10.25 inches framed
Margot Voorhies Thompson
Cosmology 1, 2026
gouache and charcoal on watercolor paper
14.75 x 10.25 inches framed
Margot Voorhies Thompson
Cosmology 2, 2026
gouache and charcoal on watercolor paper
14.75 x 10.25 inches framed
Margot Voorhies Thompson
Cosmology 3, 2026
gouache and charcoal on watercolor paper
14.75 x 10.25 inches framed
Russo Lee Gallery is pleased to present From the Edge of Beauty and Survival, a new exhibition of paintings by Margot Voorhies Thompson. Rooted in Thompson's decades-long engagement with Oregon’s remote Northern Great Basin—Fort Rock, Summer Lake, Abert Rim, Hart Mountain, and the Warner Valley—these works draw their palette directly from the desert's lichen colonies, yielding colors of vermillion-orange, cochineal red, cadmium yellow, and brilliant green, alongside pigments the artist has collected on-site in the form of ditch dirt, minerals, and sand. The paintings explore themes of cosmology, survival, and cultural memory, informed by petroglyphs dating back 10,000 to 18,000 years that speak to the ingenuity of the region's Paleolithic nomadic cultures. Accompanying the exhibition, two short documentary film clips—Early Summer and Late Summer—will stream on the gallery monitor, offering an intimate look at Thompson making art on location under the intense desert sun.
Margot Voorhies Thompson studied at Lewis and Clark College, Reed College, and the Pacific Northwest College of Art. In 1983, she was invited to teach a two month Master Calligraphy Program at the Hochschule für Künstlerische (University of Art and Design) in Linz, Austria. Her work is in the collections of the Portland Art Museum; the Brooklyn Art Museum; the Stanford University Hospital; and the Printmaking Workshop in New York, among others. She has completed several collaborative book commissions with Kim Stafford, Pattiann Rogers, and Wendell Berry for the University of Oregon's Knight Library Press. Other commissions include pieces for Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR; Portland State University, Portland, OR; Kaiser Permanente, Tualatin, OR; the Woodstock Branch Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR; Doernbecher Children's Hospital, Portland, OR; and Oregon State Hospital, Salem, OR. Thompson is currently the subject of a full-length film documentary, in production by Ben Mercer, about her work and creative process.