The Space Between Us by Esterita Austin
Fairlane by Esterita Austin
396 Turbo Jet, detail by Esterita Austin
ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
The “penultimate recycling program.” That was the image that came to the mind of artist Esterita Austin when she first came across a junkyard of rusted vintage cars that were being reclaimed by nature. Nature takes what people have made and, over time, reduces it from rust to dust. As this process evolves, unique sculptural forms emerge. Living vegetation takes on static rusting metal and creates something new as it destroys something old. These forms inspired Esterita to create a whole series of pieces based on these old automobile bodies.
Esterita employs her own technique of transferring paint to fabric. In these works, she has chosen not to paint directly onto fabric because “the drag of the brush on the weave of the fabric kept the paint from gliding smoothly and created too much resistance.” Wanting to achieve a “slick surface” that would allow brush strokes to glide and paints to blend easily, she turned to a transparent organza to realize her vision. Her technique includes painting on silicone-coated baking parchment paper and transferring it to transparent nylon organza with the aid of Mistyfuse®.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
An internationally award winning quilt maker, designer and teacher, Esterita Austin is known for her innovative and original techniques. She has been teaching around the world for over 20 years, including Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Switzerland, England, Scotland, Spain, Israel, Egypt, Canada, and the United States. Many of these locales have inspired her work and presentations. Her work has been published in numerous periodicals and books. Her work has received prizes and appears in noted collections. She and her business partner have also contributed to the quilt world by bringing Mistyfuse® to the market in 2003.
To learn more, visit esteritaaustin.com.
EXHIBITION GALLERY
Some of the artwork may be for sale. For more information please contact store@vmota.org.