Austin Thomas

Artist: Austin Thomas
(American)

Location: Holden Sculpture Courtyard, Bucksbaum Center for the Arts

Campus Sculpture Tour

Austin Thomas

PICNIC PERCH, 2004
Wood, glass, umbrella
88 ⅜ x 54 ¼ x 53 ⅞ inches
Commissioned for the Grinnell College Art Collection

Picnic Perch beckons visitors, viewers, and loiterers into the Holden Sculpture Courtyard at Bucksbaum Center for the Arts. Built by artist Austin Thomas in conjunction with her 2004 Faulconer Gallery exhibition, Perches and Drawings, Picnic Perch consists of a glass-topped picnic table with attached benches and a shade umbrella. With simple geometric design and sensible colors (brown, gray, red, blue) Picnic Perch appears much more functional than aesthetic. Thomas often gathers designs from basic carpentry manuals, and it shows. However, her functional perch offers intriguing possibilities. It is, after all, playfully situated in the center of an academic building. Many of her other works place typically outdoor structures indoors. By placing her sculptures in surprising sites, Thomas manages to add humor—along with utility—to a space.

More than providing a sense of play, Thomas’ sculptures provide space for people to interact together. Picnic Perch, for example, offers four bench seats clustered around a table. As Thomas states, “ Perches are all about people” (artist statement). Indeed, her structures add a sense of community to their site, ideally giving a foundation—a literal seat—for connections between people, the environment, and art. Forming these connections is Thomas’ ultimate goal. Her Picnic Perch aims to transform a viewer into a participant, and so it draws people into the courtyard and into its own circle of space. By offering simple benches and shade, Picnic Perch provides a pleasant space in the courtyard.

Set in a corner of the rectangular courtyard, Picnic Perch offers visitors a chance to sit and observe other artwork as well—Ingrid Lilligren’s Babe’s Turn or Patrick Dougherty’s Hat Trick, for example. Visitors can also look in—towards the hallways and bustle of Bucksbaum Center for the Arts. In its placement, but also by its very nature, Picnic Perch encourages viewers not only to consider art, but also to participate in it. As Thomas states, her perches “are not objects or sculptural installations, but rather interactive events. To perch is to have an experience” (artist statement). And these experiences involve many things: other people, the site, and the art itself. Thomas considers her own interaction with the environment—weather, in particular—as she reflects on her art. “Perhaps,” she says, “it's good weather that informs my work … I am the good weather artist. When the weather is good, there we all are, to sit, to perch, to pause, gather, picnic, etc.” (artist statement). In good weather or bad, Picnic Perch provides a space—and more importantly, a reason—to pause.

About the Artist: Austin Thomas earned a B.A. in psychology from the University of Colorado and an M.A. in studio art from New York University. Her sculptures, architectural structures called “perches,” combine elements of art and psychology, as they are aesthetic creations meant for direct human interaction. As Thomas says, “[Perches] are not complete until they draw people in and onto them.” Thomas’ work has been shown across the United States. She exhibited two perches in the Corcoran Biennial Closer to Home (2002). In 2004, she won the Smack Mellon Studio Award, and in 2002, she won a residency in Hungary on behalf of The Hungarian Multicultural Center.

Essay by Christine Hancock ‘06
2006

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last updated 5/25/06

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