Artist Statement
Through my drawings, I want to bring out detail in my artwork that the viewer has never seen before. Sometimes bringing attention to some aspect of a familiar object that may have gone unnoticed.

Artist Bio
A lifelong resident of Battle Creek, Kurt Thornton has been surrounded by art from an early age. His father, Junior Thornton, is an amateur artist and his mother, Frances Thornton, was a historian and collector of local memorabilia. From them, he learned to love the area’s beauty and history.

Colorblindness has allowed him to focus on using monochromatic mediums such as pencil and ‘pen and ink’ in his detailed drawings. Local architectural historian and archivist for Heritage Battle Creek, Mary Butler states, “Kurt’s line drawings bring out the essence of a building in a way a photograph can’t. There are buildings I never look at the same way after looking at his drawings.”

Thornton is also known for calendars he has been illustrating and producing since 1978. In 2005 he received a Community Achievement Volunteer Leadership Award from the Michigan State Historical Department for his calendars. The Battle Creek Enquirer states his calendars are ‘not a mere listing of days and months, but rather a blend of humor, history and art that both entertains and educates.’

Thornton has created artwork for private commissions and businesses including Battle Creek Health System, Battle Creek Area Chamber of Commerce, State of Michigan Parks Department, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Kellogg Corporation, Willard Public Library and the City of Battle Creek.

His interest in local history has given him the opportunity to serve on the City of Battle Creek Historic District Commission and the Board of Directors for Heritage Battle Creek. He has also chosen photos, compiled information to write two books on Battle Creek’s history, ‘Images of America, Battle Creek’ in 2004 and ‘Battle Creek, Then and Now’ in 2005, both printed by Arcadia Publishing from Charleston, South Carolina.