On Spirituality And Creating Boundaries: Arielle Austin
This past week, BBATX (#bossbabesATX) and visual artist and creative entrepreneur, Mercy Emelike, wrapped up their three-part event, CHATROOM, an art conversation series for Black non-binary and women artists located in Austin.
We ended the series with educator and artist, Tammie Rubin, to interview abstract painter Arielle Austin. Keep reading for a summary of their conversations.
ABOUT THE ARTIST, ARIELLE AUSTIN:
Originally from Los Angeles, Arielle Austin is an abstract painter located in Austin, Texas. She creates her work by using acrylic, oil paint, and paper to produce abstract works on canvas while expressing the emotional scape of our transitory existence. Initially used as a tool for personal therapy and spiritual connectedness, Austin’s process-based work explores the intimate relationship between subject and viewer with layers, texture, and details. In experimenting with this process, Austin compels the viewer to take a closer look by becoming more intimate with the art, resembling our very own human nature and desire.
ABOUT THE FACILITATOR, TAMMIE RUBIN:
Tammie Rubin is a Chicago native who currently lives in Austin, Texas. She is both an artist and educator at St. Edward’s University where she is an Associate Professor of Ceramics & Sculpture. Her artwork explores the gaps between the readymade and handcrafted object, opening up dream-like spaces of unexpected associations and dislocations. Her work has been featured in online and printed publications such as Artforum, Art in America, Glasstire, Sightlines, fields, Conflict of Interest, Arts and Culture Texas, Ceramics: Art & Perception, and Ceramics Monthly.
HERE ARE THREE TAKEAWAYS FROM THEIR DISCUSSION:
ON CREATING BOUNDARIES
Losing yourself in your work is a common thing for an artist to do, and for Arielle Austin, this was a habit she noticed during the earlier stages of her career. Throughout the years she learned how to create boundaries between her and art so that she continues to keep in touch with reality. A prime example of this is when she has a studio day, she “knows [she’ll] need to see somebody at the end of the day,” so she’ll find a way to keep in touch with friends by either having a phone conversation or spending time with them after the studio.
on recreation
Austin draws inspiration for her artwork by using elements that pertain to her personal life. In her Abstract Memories (2019) series, Austin uses photographs from her childhood to recapture the essence of a memory. While creating these pieces, she interprets the way she is now, and how that moment made her who she is. In her Soul Food (2017) collection, she shows how “people can be soul food for each other.” Soul food is typically associated with one’s home or community, and in this series, she captures what it means for someone to feed their soul with love, truth and new beginnings.
ON SPIRITUALITY
During their talk, Rubin recalls back to when Austin refers to her practice as “a way of freedom and peace,” and when she enters “[her] space of making, [she’s] having a conversation with God.” As a believer of the Christian faith, Austin uses these moments of art-making as a way to connect with God. She refers to these moments as therapy, because it’s a space where she is allowed to “quiet [her] mind” and feed her soul spiritually, but there are business components to her work, such as deadlines and certain expectations, that can sometimes make these conversations difficult. During those times she reminds herself of the original purpose of wanting to create, along with the help of her supporters, and uses that as motivation to continue her craft. When asked how she knows when she’s finished with a piece, Austin shared that she knows she’s done when the conversation with God feels over, and she can exhale around her piece with a feeling of completion. She explained that “if you can see any sense of God in [her] work, then [she’s] done what [she] needed to do.”
moodboard inspired by Arielle Austin’s work, curated and complied by Helen Oyeniyi.
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