Thater, chair of ArtCenter’s Art Department since 2024 and a faculty member since 1995, experienced profound upheaval when the Eaton Fire devastated her home, studio, and three decades of creative work in Altadena last January.
“I have no concept of home. I sort of lost it, and I haven’t refound it yet. I don’t know where I’m going to be living. I don’t know. I don’t know a lot of things. So everything’s kind of up in the air for me right now,” Thater said, reflecting on the loss. “We lost everything, including our studio and all of our work.”
Despite this personal loss, Thater is exhibiting new work. Her video installation “Peonies” opens September 20 at ArtCenter’s Mullin Transportation Design Center, 950 South Raymond Avenue in Pasadena. Her upcoming project—a public video artwork filmed in Claude Monet’s garden in Giverny, France—is set to premiere at LACMA next year.
Across her thirty-five-year career, Thater has produced 92 solo exhibitions and participated in more than 200 group shows. Her art is featured in collections worldwide, including those at LACMA, MoMA, the Guggenheim and Whitney. She has received the Trellis Art Fund Milestone Grant, John Simon Guggenheim Foundation fellowship, and National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, among other honors.
Thater’s practice spans documenting critically endangered and extinct species for over thirty years. “I have worked with critically endangered species now for over 30 years. I’ve worked with the last northern white rhino in the world … The northern white rhino that I filmed is now extinct. I filmed the last wild horses in the world that are now extinct in the wild,” she notes.
Her teaching draws attention to the meaning and responsibility of artistic creation. “I don’t want to make students or myself make more junk to put out into the world. There’s enough garbage in the world. We don’t need … that. We need art that has something to say and art that makes people think in a deep and meaningful way.”
FullCircle membership organization will host a free special conversation with Thater on Saturday, October 4 at ArtCenter’s Hillside Campus, 1700 Lida Street in Pasadena. Her “Natural History One” video work is also on view at ArtCenter’s South Campus building, 1111 South Arroyo Parkway in Pasadena.
Thater’s philosophy—art as a way to shape the world we want—underscores her enduring creative drive. Supported by the art community and institutional grants, she continues to spotlight extinction, environmental crisis and resilience.
Get our daily Pasadena newspaper in your email box. Free.
Get all the latest Pasadena news, more than 10 fresh stories daily, 7 days a week at 7 a.m.
