News & Events

Lauren Austin Exhibit & Events

Quilting Our History: An Exhibit of Quilts by Lauren Austin

The Department of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies hosted an exhibit of quilts by Lauren Austin, a Florida-based storytelling artist who has worked for over 30 years in the medium of quilts. 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.

The exhibit ran from February 12, 2024 through September 23, 2024 in CMC 202. 

Past Exhibit events

Care & Joy Through Art: A Protection Blueprint

September 23, 2024, 3:30-4:30pm
MSC 3705

Artist Lauren Austin will discuss how her own art making helped her safely navigate a variety of hostile environments, and she will outline low-tech steps to make your own visual art for self-expression, self-care, empowerment, and change.    

Quilting Our History Closing Reception with Special Guest Lauren Austin

September 23, 2024, 5:30-7:30pm
CMC 202

All WGSS friends, alumni, faculty, affiliate faculty, and students are invited to join us for our closing reception of the Quilting Our History Exhibit. Artist Lauren Austin will be in attendance to answer your questions and discuss her work. We hope to see you there!

Make Story Artbooks Workshop 

February 21, 2024, 2:00-4:30PM

Hands-on workshop led by Lauren Austin. Workshop participants will use Lauren’s method of making an origami book collage with fabric scraps, paper, and drawing to preserve a memory or a story from your life. All supplies, including dyed fabrics and African fabrics from Lauren's collection, will be provided. This workshop is for all skill levels - the only rule is to have fun.

My Journey Through Art Quilting: Public Lecture 

February 22, 2024 at 6:00PM in CMC 130 
Lecture by Lauren Austin. Open to the public. 

Lauren will show the development of her art over the 30+ years of her career through works in-progress and pieces from early in her practice, talk about what keeps her making art and important themes in her work, including womanism, and discuss how you can find the time to tell your own story through art.

WGSS Class Visits

February 21 and 22

Lauren Austin will visit two WGSS courses, Black Feminisms and Black Sexualities, and talk with students about themes in her work.

About Lauren Austin

"I made my first quilt when I was 7 years old and have been quilting ever since. I worked as a Foreign Service Officer for the US State Department and later as a human rights lawyer. While I worked in the Foreign Service and in law, I made art nights and weekends.  I took the plunge in 2004 to create art full-time.
 
I use photos, my dyed, printed, and painted fabric to make my portraits of black life. I use different methods to add designs to my work, including retro photo-chemical processes, block printing, and lithography to create complex surface design.
 
Over the past 3 years I have been learning wood block and linoleum block carving and print making with Jennifer Harper of Harper Printmaking Studio in Eustis.  By press printing my designs on fabric, I have a different method to add interest to my quilts.
 
Many of my quilts contain natural elements – leaves, flowers, birds, and animals. I want to create work that shows the relationship of black people with the natural world. 
 
Making art helps me to understand my memories and feelings while making something beautiful.  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. I hope you enjoy my work.
 
Art is for life!"