Lauren Austin, ‘Our Vision of his Transition,’ 2021, 76”L x 150”W.

Maitland-based artist, Lauren Austin (b. 1959) has established herself over the decades as a fiber artist par none with large-scale figurative quilts that grapple with concepts of memory and history and astound viewers in their technical and narrative complexity. Indeed, this original exhibition, Lauren Austin: Life in Quilts, showcases Austin’s exceptional hand and eye as a quilter and her marvel as a storyteller. Many of the works on display in the exhibition incorporate Austin's married passions for birding and exploring African-American experience with exquisite hand-threading, machine-threading, and beadwork quilts alongside historical photographs that build upon the tradition of quilt-making as a vital aspect of African-American history.

This exhibition features works produced by Austin over the past three decades, as she transitioned her career from her work as a civil rights attorney to becoming a full-time artist. The show offers a retrospective showcase of Austin’s signature narrative quilt art, which focuses on African-American family life and its relationship to the natural world. As viewers will see, Austin’s subject matter is the everyday drama, joy, and sadness of Black life. In each of her thoughtfully-crafted works, this story-filled world is observed, lived, and created in minute detail on — and through — the medium of fabric. And, to be certain, it takes only moments to see how Austin's narratives are as intricately woven as the quilts themselves.