The Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) at the USF Tampa campus recently unveiled the Quilting Our History exhibit, which features quilts by Lauren Austin, a Florida-based storytelling artist who has worked for over 30 years in the medium of quilts.
One of the many quilts on display in the Quilting Our History exhibit. (Photo by Corey Lepak)
Austin’s work merges her own life story with that of Black history and cultural memory. Her quilts are large-scale mixed media pieces, incorporating photographic processes, stone lithograph, beading, hand-stitching, and hand-dyed fabrics.
"I made my first quilt when I was 7 years old and have been quilting ever since,” Austin said. “I worked as a Foreign Service Officer for the U.S. State Department and later as a human rights lawyer. While I worked in the Foreign Service and law, I made art on nights and weekends. I took the plunge in 2004 to create art full-time.”
“Making art helps me to understand my memories and feelings while making something beautiful,” Austin said. “Art contains stories of the artist but also has room for the viewers’ stories. For me, the process of creation, exhibition, and audience involvement add value and meaning to my world.”
Sarah Jünke, project coordinator for WGSS, curated the exhibit and coordinated its accompanying events.
“As an interdisciplinary department, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at USF regularly hosts art exhibits, which enrich our curriculum and the USF experience for the campus community and beyond. Art is able to communicate complex and thought-provoking concepts in a way that reaches people differently than a lecture or a reading assignment,” Jünke explained.
She shared that when planning this year’s exhibit, she realized the department had not yet featured a fiber artist, so that became the focus.
“Fiber arts are an important and vibrant field within fine arts, and because of their historical connection with crafts typically considered ‘women’s work’—knitting, sewing, weaving, etc.–there is a lot within fiber arts that intersects with the research of our students and faculty,” she said.
“We knew we wanted to feature the work of a Florida-based fiber artist—there are so many amazing fiber artists in our state! I found Lauren Austin’s work and immediately knew she was who we were looking for. Her quilts are aesthetically and technically beautiful, but there is also an incredible depth to them—the stories, memories, and hopes that they convey.”
Intricate patterns, stitchwork, beading, and colors are just a few of the details of Austin’s quilts. (Photo by Corey Lepak)
“[Austin’s] work communicates ideas that complement what one learns in the classroom or through research, but because art is expressive, it humanizes and personalizes those ideas,” she continued.
Jünke noted one example in particular, Beth’s Indoor Garden, which is one of the larger pieces in the collection.
“[The piece] depicts Austin’s mother sitting at a table in her home surrounded by her plants, cat, and crossword puzzle. Tucked behind her crossword puzzle is a newspaper article, which is taken from a real newspaper printed onto fabric and incorporated into the quilt. The article is about the police killing of a young Black man, which happened when Austin was a child. She has carried the memory of it with her throughout her life,” she explained. “The article is there in the quilt to show how this reality is always there in the background for Black people in the U.S.”
Jünke said she hopes that anyone who attends the exhibit will be able to reflect on the important social, cultural, and historical themes showcased throughout, as well as find an appreciation of fiber arts and the ways that art can foster human connections and share different perspectives.
“Austin uses so many different techniques in her work, from hand-dying fabrics, stone lithography, woodcuts, screen printing, photographic transfers and cyanotype, and free motion drawing with a sewing machine, and it is really worth taking time with each piece to appreciate it all.”
The exhibit runs until June 21, 2024, and is located in the CAS Multidisciplinary Complex (CMC) - Room 202. Groups and individuals can contact WGSS to set up an appointment to visit the exhibit.