Austin William Hill
BIO
Austin Hill is an artist from Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, currently studying Digital Art and Studio art at Stetson University. He draws from personal experience and the natural environment to provide inspiration for much of his work.
Austin's work spans several disciplines: photography, ceramics, and sculpture. His area of focus within photography is long-exposure and landscape photography. Hill uses his lens to highlight that things are not always what they seem at first glance. In most of his sculptures, he utilizes digital design and production methods that employ CNC cutting and bending machines. He usually uses recycled or discarded materials such as metal and wood to support his environmental stance. In ceramics, he pairs time-tested methods with unconventional techniques. Several of his projects have combined disciplines producing a unique experience.
Hill has had several works exhibited and in 2021 he won an award for his sculpture" Trapped in Separate Worlds', a digitally fabricated, reclaimed metal sculpture that serves as a commentary on the current social, political, and economic climate.
Artist Satement
I use art as a way to process the world around me. It is a multi-sensory response, and my work is as much about the process as it is about the product. Therefore, I take an unorthodox approach when creating my work. I often capture these processes in video, and sometimes the resultant video becomes the art. Each discipline I work in offers me a unique outlet and voice. I use reclaimed or recycled materials in my sculpture, giving new life to would-be trash. My photographs allow me to force the viewer to consider a scene differently. Ceramics give me a tactile sensory connection with the material, allowing for an interpretation of the world with which I am intimately connected. I began taking photographs in middle school, but, It was not until I took sculpture and ceramics classes that my work took on new life.
My goal is to get people to look at things from a different perspective. Only when we shed preconceived notions and look at things in a whole new way can we truly understand. Integrating photographs with three-dimensional art gives depth and forces the viewer to look more closely at it and relate it to something else, providing a different context to the piece.