Thelma A. "Sunni" Latta
Birth Date: 1908
Death Date: 2000
Artist Gallery
Thelma Latta, a native of Ohio, has had an informal art education, having studied with many well-known artists; starting in 1935 with portraiture under Florence Norton and Elmer Novotny. She has studied with Roy Wilhelm, John Chetcuti, Lester Stevens, Marc Moon, John Pike, and Larry Quackenbush. Latta painted from Cape Anne, Mass. to Fort Myers, Florida, and from Woodstock, New York to the Midwest. Her work covers a variety of subjects in all media in an academic rendition. Thelma Latta was the first female initiated into the Whiskey Painters of America (or WPA as they are known now). To become a member, you had to paint a “whiskey painting” after 10pm, in a bar by candlelight and dip your brush into an alcoholic drink instead of water. Latta said; “Painting is a spiritual, esoteric, and therapeutic exercise beyond the scope of all other types of physical and mental exertion which should be practiced by more people.”