Feature Work
This Section of Austin’s Portfolio represents transitional and inspirational works created over his artistic development. This section features early work along with some of the most recent works with a brief artist staments on several of the pieces displayed below.
This is one of the first pieces created upon moving to New York City after college. While working at William Doyle Galleries, an auction house, Austin was giving this stretcher by a patron who was getting the painting formally on this stretcher appraised because the piece did not appraise for anything. At the time, Austin was also working at the American Craft Museum and helping clean out the education wing, he was given this unprimed Linen. One night, Austin decided to paint but did not have any paint only pastels. Remembering back to studying in Florence Italy and being taught how to make paint from Egg Yolks, Austin decided to crush the pastels and make Egg Temperas from them by using this technique learned in Art School in Italy. As you can see this painting has texture and layers of colors that lead Austin on a journey of creating a series of works with handmade paints that he continues to use this technique learned back in art school even today in many works.
While studying at in Florence Italy at SACI, Austin was confronted by his ceramic professor posing this question to him; “When I look at your paintings, I see freedom/expression/energy; Why can’t you do what I see in your paintings in your ceramics?” Upon hearing this questions, Austin went back into the studio and found these 3 functional pottery pieces created on the potter's wheel, turned them over and then started hand building these organic shapes and forms on top of the wheel thrown pieces. This question lead Austin on a path of creating ceramic sculptures that he continues to this day.
On September 11 2001 I was teach art in a park in SoHo on corner or Spring and Thompson. I will always remember hearing the planes flying right over my head and sitting on the floor in the pool house with the kids trying to get them to color as I heard the most frightening gasp like the air being sucked out of the room as the first building fell. This painting was the first piece I created a few days later in my studio in SoHo. I will always remember those that lost their lives and those that risked theirs to save others.
In the spring of 2020, I was asked to create a piece of art for the new Kindertransport Chapel at Mizpah Congregation in Chattanooga, TN. In honor of those who were saved by the Jewish Community and the Kindertransport before the Nazi’s took over. Working with clay and under a time constraint to create this piece, I decided to produce 3 wall sculptures of the same piece, each being unique, in case one of the pieces when fired in the kiln happened to break due to the drying and firing process. This made sure I met the timeline in case the sculpture broke during this process. It turned out that all 3 sculptures made it thought the firing process. I was given these words below by the donor family whose mother was saved by the Kindertransport to use for inspiration: Mothers’ and Fathers’, hearts heavy with the knowledge that their “kinder” many one day be the only “seed” to carry forward their memory and their families’ legacy. “From those tiny seeds, have grown trees. Each generation giving life to roots, branches, and leaves honoring those that were lost but who never will be forgotten.” One of the “Tree of Life” sculpture is on permanent display in the Kindertransport Chapel at Mizpah Congregation in Chattanooga, TN. The other is was actioned off in an ORT South Africa auction where funds went to support the ORT’s International Cooperation Programs for Afghanistan Women Refugees, and the third is in the artist personal collection.
In the Summer of 2022, Austin had the opportunity to travel to Thessaloniki, Greece to create an art instillation “Tree of Life” working with the Irida Center, https://www.iridacenter.org/ a Women’s refugee organization helping African, Afghanistan, Syrian, Iranian, Ukrainian, and other women refugees fleeing persecution for a better life in Greece. The work was created in the entrance way of the center, by having the women first write on strips of cardboard their name and family in their native languages. The women then dipped their hands in paint to make handprints as the leaves of the tree and their feet prints as the roots. The instillation is ongoing so any refugee coming through the program will be able to add their names and prints to the “Tree of Life.”
In January 2024, I had the opportunity to visit Israel on a Solidarity Mission. While there I visited World ORT Youth Village Kfar Silver and create an art project with the students there. We collaborated on a colorful inspiring “Tree of Life” which inspiration and idea can be traced back to a piece I was asked to create for a Kindertransport Chapel in Chattanooga Tennessee. In the spring of 2020, I was asked to create a piece of art for the new Kindertransport Chapel at Mizpah Congregation in Chattanooga, TN. In honor of those who were saved by the Jewish Community and the Kindertransport before the Nazi’s took over. I was given these words below by the donor family whose mother was saved by the Kindertransport to use for inspiration: Mothers’ and Fathers’, hearts heavy with the knowledge that their “kinder” many one day be the only “seed” to carry forward their memory and their families’ legacy. “From those tiny seeds, have grown trees. Each generation giving life to roots, branches, and leaves honoring those that were lost but who never will be forgotten.” One of the “Tree of Life” sculpture is on permanent display in the Kindertransport Chapel at Mizpah Congregation in Chattanooga, TN. Another was was actioned off in an ORT South Africa auction where funds went to support the ORT’s International Cooperation Programs for Afghanistan Women Refugees. As an artist and working with ORT, I had the opportunity in 2022 to visit one of our International Cooperation Programs in partnership with the IRIDA Center in Thessaloniki Greece and create an art project. In drawing from my “Tree of Life” inspiration I created a project where working with the Refugee Women we made a “Tree of Life” instillation, using our handprints as the leaves, writing our names, and our families on cardboard strips in our native languages that was used as the bark of the tree and then our feet prints as the roots. The installation hung in the center for several months and anyone women that came to the center could add their name and prints to our “Tree of Life.” This past month I had the opportunity to join our Students at our World ORT Kfar Silver, Youth Village and create an art project. In carring on the inspiration of these “Tree of Life” the students and I created a “Tree of Life” using our handprints for the leaves, fingerprints as the sky and grass, and our names in our native languages as the bark of the tree we created an inspiring colorful “Tree of Life. Our colorful inspiring creation was then hung in the Cafeteria at Kfar Silver for all to see our “Tree of Life”
Title: יעקב (Jacob) Statement: “Our Stable Bubble among All the Madness” Hadas Peled Media: Mix Media of Clay and Newsprint (Images of Political Cartoons in Arab Newspapers) Artist Description of work: On the surface, the idea of many waters can be seen as the waters surrounding Israel in the piece. Clay is a material that is formed through weathering of water and land under pressure, which is a perfect material to use as representing Israel and the waters surrounding. Jacob refers to my Torah portion from my Bar Mitzvah in the book of Genesis with Jacob wrestling with the Angle and then is give the name Israel. “The Sound of Man Waters” is a metaphor of the different types of water, such as rough seas, floodwater, waves , etc. which eventually will become calm, which I interpreted as the different voices, view points, or the feelings of different people in their relationship to the Middle East and Israel. There are three different points of view to these relationships or interpretations of what the work is about. The first being mine as the artist, but also as a Jewish American, the second is that of the Arab view of Israel, with the use of Political Cartoons from Arab newspapers, and the third is of a young Israeli who wrote words in English as well as Hebrew when interpreting the artwork. She was the one who came up with the quote “Our Stable Bubble Among all the Madness” which helps unify the piece and the meaning from someone who grew-up in the world depicted in my piece. The use of clay holds a special meaning and is why I chose to create the land of Israel. The beauty in the material and the forming of the shape with clay shows a material that can last through time just as the country and people of Israel have. The newsprint used for the cartoons will fade overtime, which I hope is how this hatred will. The permanence of the clay (Israel) and the fading of the newsprint (Hate).
