James B. Thompson: Fragments in Time explores the development of Thompson's work over the past two decades, from his Certain Situations series of the mid-1990s to his more recent Forgotten Biography of Tools series from 2015. Bob Hicks best describes Thompson's work: "[it] grapples with the perplexing issues of cultural and geological change. [Thompson] ranges freely through ancient and forgotten forms to confront the mysteries and fractures of the universe, investigating not just the abandoned and the unknown, but the limits and possibilities of the art forms, often with understated wit."

James B. Thompson was born in Chicago in 1951 and received his MFA from Washington University in 1977. Since 1986, Thompson has been a member of the art faculty at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, where he teaches courses in painting, printmaking, drawing, and design. His art has appeared in numerous solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States and is included in public and private collections throughout the United States and Europe. Thompson is recognized as one of the most interesting and innovative artists in Oregon, and the Hallie Ford Museum of Art is proud to honor him with this twenty-year retrospective.