• About Us
    • Advertise
      • Sizes & Specs
    • Previous Issues
    • Submissions
    • Scene Team
      • Contact Us
  • Scene Lately
    • Downtown Scene
    • North Side Scene
    • South Side Scene
  • Calendar
    • #EventsToBeScene
    • Events We Are Excited About
    • Theatre Events
  • Printables
  • Subscribe
  • Reader Survey

Abilene Scene

Art, Culture & Happenings in Abilene, Texas!

  • Abilene Eats
    • Abilene Eats Out
    • Abilene Eats In
  • Artfully Abilene
    • Center for Contemporary Art
    • The Grace
    • NCCIL
    • Paramount
    • Philharmonic
  • Featured Stories
    • Culture
    • Fake Your Way
    • Health
    • Travel
    • Business
  • People
    • Abilene Influencers
    • Abilene Influencer Nomination
    • Day in the Life
    • Everyday Heroes
  • Homes
    • Abilene Open Houses
    • A Look Inside
    • Lawn & Garden
    • DIY
  • New On The Scene
  • Shopping
  • Restaurants
You are here: Home / Featured Story / Abilene Influencers / People You Know: Bird Thomas

People You Know: Bird Thomas

September 2, 2016 Leave a Comment

People You Know
Bird Thomas, Center for Contemporary Arts
By Sidney Schuhmann Levesque

 

_DSC2673If you’ve ever attended an ArtWalk in downtown Abilene, you probably saw a vivacious character named Burgess “Bird” Thomas at the center of the action – likely in costume. All year long, she plans special events, camps and exhibits at the Center for Contemporary Arts, including a knock-out “dragon hunt” for the dramatic reading of “The Flying Dragon Room” during the Children’s Art & Literacy Festival in June. It was the most-cited favorite activity on festival surveys.

Family:  Husband, Sonny, her childhood sweetheart, a geologist and a fellow world traveler; 2- year-old grandson, Colson; two younger brothers, Gary and John Heslep, and their families.

Education: 1971 Abilene High School graduate; graduated from University of Texas at Austin in 1975 with a degree in interior design (a hybrid of art and architecture).

Background:  Thomas was born in Abilene.  “When I turned 18 years, 6 days, 3 hours, 45 minutes and 10 seconds old, I left skid marks getting out of here,” she says. “But like so many of us, I came back.”

Careers: Interior design work in Austin; a county agent for the University of Arkansas specializing in 4-H; 10 years working with Carpenter Interiors in Abilene; and began working for the Center for Contemporary Arts in 2009.

Known for: Creativity, energy, ideas and inspiration. “All the ideas are already out there in the universe. I just pluck them out!” Thomas said. “I get pretty jazzed about people getting to have fun together as a community, and that gives me energy.”

Art: “My art is ever changing, because I am constantly experimenting,” Thomas said. “I try to provoke thought with each piece of art I make. Right now, I’m working with Chase Turk and a sound alchemist known as Cousin Silas on an exhibit called ‘Dark Matter.’ Research for this consumes a lot of time and it is exciting to ponder what ‘Dark Matter’ might be.

Filed Under: Abilene Influencers, Featured Story, People Tagged With: feature, featured, people you know

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Sign Up for Scene Now!

Subscribe: Newsletter | Magazine

May/June 2025

Abilene Influencers

Read the full issue of Abilene Scene online by clicking the cover image above.

Connect with us online.

Facebook spacer Twitter spacer Instagram spacer Pinterest

Recent Posts

Abilene Influencer: Cynthia Pearson

40 Years of Blizzards

Abilene Author: Glenn Dromgoole

Oak Street Shoppe

What To Do With Your Big Blank Wall

Abilene Scene

3457 Curry Lane
Abilene, TX 79606
325.673.4822
abilenescene@zacpubs.com

Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

Cookie Policy

Cookie Policy

Categories

© 2025 · Zachry Publications