shazzi Thomas: The witching hour

EXHIBITION DATES: november 24 – December 19, 2026

RECEPTION: Thursday, December 3, 5 - 8 pM

The Painting Center is pleased to present The Witching Hour, a solo exhibition of nocturnal paintings by Shazzi Thomas in the Project Room. The exhibition will run from November 24 through December 19, 2026, with an opening reception on Thursday, December 3, from 5 to 8 pm.

Shazzi Thomas’ paintings explore the intersections of motherhood, labor, and domestic life. Set during what she describes as the ‘witching hour’—the quiet stretch of night after the demands of work and caregiving have receded—these paintings explore the emotional spaces that emerge when the world grows still. The series developed from necessity as responsibilities left little opportunity to paint during daylight hours. What began as a practical adjustment gradually became the conceptual foundation of the work. For Thomas, the "witching hour" departs from its folkloric origins as a time associated with the supernatural. Instead, it becomes a personal threshold between one day and the next, when the demands of daily life give way to reflection and creative possibility. It is the hour in which she shifts from worker and mother to artist, reclaiming time that exists outside the expectations of the day. In these late-night hours, her home becomes both studio and subject, revealing itself as a place of transformation. 

Working under artificial light, Thomas investigates how illumination shapes color and atmosphere. Shadows soften the boundaries between objects, familiar rooms become quietly theatrical, and the remnants of everyday life become sites of contemplation. Deeply informed by the Intimists, she extends the tradition of interior painting into a contemporary context. Her work reflects on the home not simply as a physical setting, but as a psychological landscape shaped by memory, solitude, and resilience. Through richly observed color and nuanced lamplight, she invites viewers into private moments that resonate with experiences of love, solitude, and the passage of time. Rather than invoking mystery for its own sake, The Witching Hour reimagines the night as a space of creative agency, where overlooked hours become opportunities for artistic practice and personal reflection. The paintings are not just of the witching hour—they are made possible by it.

Shazzi Thomas earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Bard College in 2004. Her paintings have been exhibited at Longwood Art Gallery, Broome Street Gallery, Eleven Ten Gallery, Brooklyn Artists Gym, and The Painting Center. In conjunction with the exhibition Through Our Eyes: Wuppertal/New York, which included her work, she presented a lecture on Georgia O’Keeffe at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. In addition to her artistic practice, Thomas has curated numerous exhibitions at The Painting Center and at venues including Equity Gallery, Kent State University, Woodstock Artists Association, Katonah Museum Artists’ Association, Studio Montclair, and Kean University. She has served twice as a juror for the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards and as a juror for the Golden Educators Residency. In 2021, she was a guest juror for the 11th Biennial Alexander Rutsch Award.