Eugene Thurston
Eugene B. Thurston is a prominent El Paso artist and muralist. While his career included caricature, lithography, and commercial illustrations, Thurston is known for his painted landscapes of the American Southwest. He was a prolific painter who worked with oil, watercolor, and ink; his love of nature is reflected in his scenic paintings of deserts, mountains, and colorful skies. Much of his subject matter came from the surrounding area of his home. Thurston was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and later moved to El Paso in 1906, where he attended El Paso High School and was the cartoonist for the school newspaper. He studied commercial art at the Federal School of Art in Minneapolis and later became a teacher and lecturer. Between 1940 and 1966, he taught commercial art to hundreds of students at the El Paso Technical Institute and El Paso High School. He taught for 25 years and made efforts to establish the city of El Paso as a visual arts center. He was a charter member of several associations, including the El Paso Art Guild, the De Norte Arts and Crafts Guild, The El Paso Chapter of the National Society of Arts and Letters, and the El Paso Art Association. Mr. Thurston’s paintings are displayed in the Congressional office building in Washington, D.C., and New Mexico’s governor’s office. Mr. Thurston received the Mentors of Today Award from the Texas House of Representatives and an award from the National Society of Arts and Letters.