Aleyah Austin is an emerging, multidisciplinary artist based in Detroit, Michigan. They received their MFA in Ceramics from Cranbrook Academy of Art in the Spring of 2025, after graduating from Bennington College in 2020 with a BFA in Studio Art. Their attraction to ceramics is based on its applications in ritual, domestic, and industrial spaces. They incorporate other materials, such as water, animal hair, wood, metal, plastic, photographs and video, to expand the world that their objects inhabit. They explore themes of interconnection, nourishment, animacy, and transformation as avenues for queer expression. Their work often exists across the boundaries of human, animal, mineral, flora, and machine.
EDUCATION
2025
MFA in Ceramics, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI
2020
BFA in Studio Art, Bennington College, Bennington, VT
EXHIBITIONS
2025
Graduate Degree Exhibition, Cranbrook Art Museum,
Bloomfield Hills, MI
Lonesome No More: The 21st Century Cowboy, Forum Gallery, Cranbrook Academy of Art,
Bloomfield Hills, MI (curated by Tracy Ren)
New Friends, in collaboration with SAIC, Old Friends,
Chicago, IL
XXX, 2D Annex, Cranbrook Academy of Art,
Bloomfield Hills, MI (curated by A Ranic and Sophia Larsen)
Queer Show, Forum Gallery, Cranbrook Academy of Art,
Bloomfield Hills, MI (curated by A Ranic)
2024
Selling to the Smiths, Frank Lloyd Wright Smith House,
Bloomfield Twp, MI (curated by Madison Warp)
Solo exhibition, Babybird: Remnant, Passageway Gallery, Cranbrook Academy of Art,
Bloomfield Hills, MI
Error-1, Cranbrook Academy of Art: Forum Gallery,
Bloomfield Hills, MI
X on the Line, Dream Clinic Project Space,
Columbus, OH (curated by Britny Wainwright)
On Seeing Red, Cranbrook Academy of Art: Forum Gallery,
Bloomfield Hills, MI (curated by Ena Kantardžić)
Lake-Effect, Embrace Creatives,
Hazel Park, MI
2023
Ambrosia Salad, Cranbrook Academy of Art: Forum Gallery,
Bloomfield Hills, MI
Solo installation, Tower, Bandhu Gardens,
Hamtramck, MI
2022
Ceramics School goes to MdW Fair, MANA Contemporary,
Chicago, IL
2020
A Hole to Climb Into, Usdan Gallery, Bennington College,
Bennington, VT
2019
Personal Perspectives, Common Folk Artist Collective,
North Adams, MA
You and Me, Stage Street Mill,
North Bennington, VT (curated by May Hemler)
FELLOWSHIPS AND AWARDS
2025
Summer Fellowship, Ox-Bow School of Art,
Saugatuck, MI
2024
Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation Materials Award, Cranbrook Academy of Art,
Bloomfield Hills, MI
PUBLICATIONS
2025
Fountainswimming: Pollen, Cranbrook Academy of Art,
Bloomfield Hills, MI
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
TEACHING
2024
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
OTHER POSITIONS
2025
Editor-in-chief of Fountainswimming, Cranbrook Academy of Art,
Bloomfield Hills, MI
Work-Study, Central Materials Lab, Cranbrook Academy of Art,
Bloomfield Hills, MI
2024
General Contractor, Islandview Improvements,
Detroit, MI
2022
Studio Assistant for Matthew Angelo Harrison,
Hamtramck, MI
2020
Darkroom Monitor, Bennington College,
Bennington, VT
