2nd Annual International Fine Arts Competition: Commitment to Excellence in Art & Sport - "Driving Rain"

To purchase a print of "Driving Rain," click here. To purchase a signed, limited-edition giclee canvas, contact Focal Flame Photography.

Slipping over earth and above rain, mindless of cornfields and lightning strikes; beyond suffering, beyond words, USA Cycling National Time Trial champion Arrietta Walker Clauss of Madison, WI pays homage to motion with intense concentration. “Driving Rain” was taken during the Mid-America Time Trial Series Finale in September 2010. Arrietta Clauss, age 55 at the time the photograph was made, holds the 2010 and 2011 USA Cycling National Time Trial championships for her division.

“Driving Rain” was selected for exhibition placement in the 2nd Annual Fine Arts Competition: Commitment to Excellence in Art & Sport. The juried competition was conducted by the National Art Museum of Sport (NAMOS) in Indianapolis, IN. The exhibit ran at NAMOS from October 27, 2011-February 29, 2012. Over 300 entries were submitted by artists from 44 states and 9 countries. Thayer was the only artist in the state of Wisconsin whose work was selected.

“To me, ‘Driving Rain’ represents complete and utter determination,” said Thayer. “In seeking to bridge the worlds of art and sport I focus on composition and on finding the emotional element where sport and the human experience overlap, and both were aligned within this image.”