April 3, 2024

J. Craig Thorpe, noted railroad artist and author of Railroads, Art and American Life: An Artist’s Memoir (Indiana University Press, 2023), will speak in Seattle on Saturday, April 13, hosted by All Aboard Washington, which promotes improved passenger rail service in our state and region.

Over the course of Thorpe’s career, he has worked for architects and landscape architects. For the last thirty years he has specialized in railway promotional art and illustration. Following the outline of the book, this presentation overviews Thorpe’s personal journey. It traces the development of his ideas and art commissioned by clients such as Amtrak and the White Pass & Yukon Route and other railways, rail suppliers, planners, museums and private collectors. Reprising elements of classic rail art, this body of work invites viewers to reconsider railroading and its connection to the broader culture. Says Thorpe, “If we really saw how railways could enrich the common good, we would not just call them ‘nostalgic,’ we would call them ‘essential’...and art brings this to life.”

The event will be held at the Seattle Public Library's Capitol Hill Branch, 425 Harvard Ave E., beginning at 10:00 AM on Saturday, April 13. Please register at https://www.aawa.us/events/general-meeting-april-2024/. Donations are welcome.

About AAWA

For over forty years, All Aboard Washington (AAWA) has promoted better passenger and freight rail service in the Pacific Northwest. We champion safe, reliable, frequent, competitive, and convenient passenger rail services that meet the needs of all Washingtonians. We are especially active supporters of intercity passenger rail service and intermodal connections to local transit.

For more information, see https://www.aawa.us/

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