Susan Austad

“While working on a Master’s Degree in Venice, Italy, I was inspired by carved, marble landscapes (reliefs) in the Gesuati Church on the Zattere; I created monochromatic works that focused on organic volumes. I thought of basic structures in nature.

The wire and paper mache works (lit from within) suggest a presence but not a specific place. Structural material (wire mesh) becomes surface. The pieces look hand-crafted, and through the slow process, forms are transposed to meditations on volume, surface and light. Surfaces are illuminated and dissolved. The “Tempano” and “Fuego” works are divided above and below a surface.

Industrial and scratchy materials are transposed into an environment that looks, soft, shimmering and organic. The pieces are ephemeral or becoming (evoking “change”-the consistent law of nature).”

Susan Austad creates mesh sculptures that cast a keen and intelligent eye on the way that the earth changes around us. Whether she’s exploring volcanoes or glaciers, Austad’s illuminated sculptures shed light on the scientific principles behind our changing planet.

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