"I had started out as a piano major and was wanting to bring my piano playing back up to snuff," Thomas said. "And that led to my playing for Tulsa Ballet, for classes and rehearsals.

"I loved working with the ballet," she said. "The attention to detail that it requires, maintaining tempo and the repetition of passages, really helps focus you as a performer."

Unfortunately, the work also led to bouts of tendonitis that made it painful to play. So Thomas turned to working with clay as a form of therapy.

"I've always made things, every since I was a child — quilts, macrame, collages, just about anything," Thomas said. "I took some classes with Whitney Forsyth at the University of Tulsa, and decided to apply for a master of fine arts. To my surprise, I was accepted, and that really changed the course of my career."

Thomas still remains active as a musician — she most recently was part of the orchestra for LOOK Musical Theatre's productions, and she teaches piano and flute privately.