Aleyah Austin is an emerging, multidisciplinary artist who grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan. For their undergraduate studies, they attended Bennington College in Vermont where they pursued photography, art history, painting, and poetry. Austin began utilizing clay as their primary material after graduating in 2020 and moving to Detroit. At the time, they were working as an artist assistant and general contractor. As a manual laborer, they are interested in the body’s relationship to architecture and ceramic’s historical application within home interiors and exteriors. Their photographic background leads them in the pursuit of uniting the image with the ceramic surface. They are currently attending Cranbrook Academy of Art for their MFA in Ceramics.
EDUCATION
2023-2025 Cranbrook Academy of Art, MFA in Ceramics, Bloomfield Hills, MI
2020 Bennington College, BFA in Studio Art, Bennington, VT
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2024
X on the Line, group show curated by Britny Wainwright, Dream Clinic Project Space, Columbus, OH
On Seeing Red, curated by Ena Kantardžić, Cranbrook Academy of Art: Forum Gallery, Bloomfield Hills, MI
Lake-Effect, group show, Embrace Creatives, Hazel Park, MI
2023
Ambrosia Salad, group show, Cranbrook Academy of Art: Forum Gallery, Bloomfield Hills, MI
Tower, solo-installation, Bandhu Gardens, Hamtramck, MI
2022
MdW Fair, group show, MANA Contemporary, Chicago, IL
2020
A Hole to Climb Into, thesis show, Bennington College, Bennington, VT
2019
Personal Perspectives, group show, Common Folk Artist Collective, North Adams, MA
You and Me, Group Show, Stage Street Mill, North Bennington, VT
POSITIONS
2024
Editor-in-chief of Fountainswimming, Bloomfield Hills, MI
Central Materials Lab Technician, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI
Handbuilding Instructor, Still Life Ceramics Studio, Ferndale, MI
2023
Teacher’s Assistant to Virginia Torrence and Henry Crissman for Woodfire: Ancient Methods and Contemporary Applications, Ox-Bow School of Art, Saugatuck, MI
2021-2022
Studio Assistant for Matthew Angelo Harrison, Hamtramck, MI
2018-2020
Photography Darkroom Monitor, Bennington College, Bennington, VT
PUBLICATIONS
2024
Fountainswimming: Wake, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI
2020
A Hole to Climb Into, Catalog, Bennington College, Bennington, VT
The Silo Vol.76, Bennington College, Bennington, VT