She helped found the first private gallery in Washington to exhibit works by artists of all races
Thomas and one of her former professors James W. Herring established the Barnett-Aden Gallery in Washington, D.C. in 1943. She went back to school again in 1950 at the American University. It was at this time her painting style moved from figurative subjects to cubist and abstract themes. She became a professional painter in her late sixties when she retired from teaching. Her work is found in the collections of the Hirshhorn Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the National Gallery of Art, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and others. She is often associated with Vasily Kandinsky because of their appreciation of color and how they use it.
