The African American Museum of the Arts, at 325 S. Clara Ave in DeLand, is featuring a collection from Maitland-based quilt artist Lauren Austin. The exhibit includes more than eight intricate pieces that use mixed-media materials, and tells a story about Austin’s life and family.
The exhibit will continue through the end of January.
Austin has been quilting since she was 7 years old. Her mother hosted a sewing group, and young Lauren soon learned that, if she participated, she could sit with the grown-ups and listen to all the gossip.
“For me, learning sewing was really wonderful. It was an opportunity as a child to get undivided attention from an adult,” Austin said.
Quilter Lauren Austin
In high school, she made most of her own clothes, both to save money and to stay up on the latest fashion trends.
As a young adult, Austin started printing images on fabric after she inherited some cherished family photos and sought a way to share them with the rest of her family members. Instead of simply printing copies of the photos, she began turning them into quilts for her family.
“It just kind of snowballed from there,” Austin said.
In 2004, she transitioned from her day job as a lawyer to being a full-time artist, and she’s been quilting ever since. Austin steadily adds new materials and mediums to make her quits more dynamic and interesting.
In the collection currently on display in DeLand, she used photos, fabric she dyed and painted herself, beads, shells and more to depict Black life and her family’s stories. She used retro photochemical processes, lithography and block printing to bring all the components together in her quilts.
“I really like the different processes and what they can do to help me with telling a story. And it just keeps up interest, the artist’s and audience’s,” Austin said.
Pictured is a quilt titled Brain Vines. It uses hand-dyed fabric and stamps made from real leaves.
She said contributing to the tradition of quilt-making is her way of keeping stories of the Black experience alive.
“That really is the goal for me. I want my grandchildren to be able to go to a museum and see my work and know something about me, and also learn about our culture and our history,” Austin said.
The African American Museum of the Arts gave Austin her first show in Florida in 2006, and she’s been partnering with them ever since.
Thanks to increased grant funding last year, the museum is increasing its educational opportunities for the community, and will be expanding to be able to include more work in its showrooms.
“It’s all thanks to [Museum Director] Mary Allen. It really pleased me to hear that the museum is expanding, and that they got money from the state to grow and get some more state-of-the-art stuff. But, even still, they need more than the state has given them,” Austin said.
Admission to the museum is free. Check out Austin’s website at https://www.thatblackgirlart.com/home-lauren, and take a look at the African American Museum of the Arts’ website at https://www.africanmuseumdeland.org for more information about this exhibit and future events.
