EARL AUSTIN 1930-2019: BIOGRAPHY
Earl Austin was a lifetime art student, art teacher, arts activist, and will remain forever a beloved Duluth artist.
A painter and printmaker, Earl is a graduate of Gustavus Adolphus College, and he studied art at the Minneapolis College of Art, the Grand Marais Arts Colony and the University of Minnesota, Duluth. His style, gentle personality and commitment to local arts will be forever remembered. .
"All through my life I have found that art is something that has sustained me. I am always doing something or other with it."
- Earl Austin
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EARL'S ART
Earl worked in a wide variety of mediums and subject matter. Mediums he mastered include acrylic and oil painting, watercolor, pastel and charcoal drawings, spray paint, collage, batik, fiber arts, sculpture, clay and print making including wood block prints, etching, intaglio and lithographs. His subject matter ranged from inspiration from nature including forests, trees, lakes, rivers, gardens and flowers to figures and portraits, still life, architecture and abstract compositions. FREEDOM TO CREATE Professionally he worked for the federal government in the Social Security Administration. He did not need to make a living from his artwork. This freed him to be truly creative. He could experiment with mediums, styles and subject matter moving on to the next when he felt he’d mastered what he wanted to accomplish. He said, “Each phase is a challenge to get to know the medium and see what to do with it.” He did not have to brand a style and produce work to sell. He created art for himself. ARTIST ACCOMPLISHMENTS Earl was active and well respected in the arts communities wherever he lived including, Omaha, NE, Rochester, Minneapolis and Duluth, Minnesota where he lived from 1973 to 2019. |
In 1964 he showed his work for the first time in the Willa Cather Library in Omaha, exhibiting 30 pieces of his work. In Rochester he received 'Best in Show' at the Olmsted County Fair in 1966. In Minneapolis he studied at the Minneapolis College of Arts and Design and sold his work at the Uptown Art Fair.
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DULUTH
In Duluth he served on the Duluth Institute of Arts board of directors twice. He was active in the University of Wisconsin Superior Life Drawing Group. He was a member of the Northern Print Alliance and helped start the annual Duluth Pride Festival Art show. He exhibited his work many times in Duluth and the surrounding region. His work was selected for several art calendars and poetry books and for a billboard. Earl sold some of his work at Lizzard’s Art Gallery and donated works to fundraising art auctions, especially the Program for Aid to Victims of Sexual Assault (PAVSA) art auction. He also traded works with other local artists. And had two one-person shows at the Duluth Institute of Arts (1979 and 2014).The Tweed Museum has a couple of pieces of Earl's artwork in their permanent collection. Several pieces of Earl’s artwork can be found hanging in the National Bank of Commerce in the Alworth & Lonsdale building on Superior Street and at St, Ann’s Residence at 330 E. 3rd. St. in Duluth, MN |
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Teachers in middle school encouraged Earl’s interest in art. He remembered some of the teachers making sure he had art supplies including paper and charcoal. He recalled his early subject matter included trees. He was fascinated with trees since it was so flat where he grew up. He drew houses and churches and considered becoming an architect. He also created religious subject matter; the Lutheran Church was a big part of his upbringing. Even then he dabbled in various media; he did his first wood cut in high school of a Christian cross. In Boy Scouts he remembered completing a Merit Badge in Art.
In college at Gustavus he took some art classes. He remembers spending time with an instructor and artist Vold Gutmanis who helped him with drawing particularly of people. Gutmanis taught for a short time at Gustavus after surviving from a concentration camp in WWII. He recalled one instructor early in his life who encouraged his work, expressing that he had talent, but said that he should think about having his art mean something - show emotion, tell a story or have a purpose. From that day on he put more thought into how he felt about what he was painting and what he wanted to say about it. |
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ART EDUCATION
In the 1950, 60s and early 70s he took art classes at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. He studied under Raymond Hendler and other instructors. He was very much influenced by Hendler. Earl said, “He was a teacher who was able to bring out the best in his students without having them paint in his style.” He recalled another class he took at MCAD where they only painted in black and white to really learn about value, light and shadow. Earl admired the work of Marsden Hartley, Charles Burchfield, Adolf Erbsloh, Louise Nevelson and many other modern masters. All of these artists influenced his work. |
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INSPIRATION
Earl created art in the en plien air, sketching or painting in nature or his flower garden. He worked in real time painting still life arrangements or models in his life drawing group. He also at times painted and sketched from memory. Sometimes he worked from photographs. He often clipped photos of nature from the newspaper or magazines to use as inspiration. Throughout his life he recreated compositions in various mediums sometimes years later. For example, a print he made in the 2000s was based on a painting he did in the 1960s. |
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EARL’S LIFE
Earl was born in Hallock and lived in Kennedy in the northwest corner of Minnesota in the Red River Valley until age 15. His interest in nature started with the flower garden he had when he was a boy. The family owned the telephone company and had a farm. After his father died he moved to Grand Forks with his mother and younger sister. He joined the Boy Scouts and had a leader and mentor who taught him to love nature and develop leadership skills. He graduated from Central High School in Grand Forks in 1948. He was raised Lutheran in the Augustana Conference. The principles he learned in the church of community service and helping others stuck with him all of his life. Earl attended Gustavus Adolphus College for a year or so before he was drafted in the Korean War. He served just under two years in Germany and returned to Gustavus and graduated in 1955 with a major in Sociology. The travel he did as part of his Army experience had an impact on his life and interest in art as well. He was able to go to Washington DC and New York City during his Army training, taking in the art and architecture. While in Germany he traveled Europe and England. He bought a camera in Germany. Some of the photographs he took became subject matter for artwork when he returned to the United States. |
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Earl married Mary (Adams) Austin in 1962, they had two children together Lisa and Martin. They lived in Omaha NE, and Rochester, Minneapolis and Duluth MN. They separated in 1983 when Earl came out as gay. They remained close friends for the rest of his life. Mary was a big supporter of his artwork. She created needlework projects based on some of his paintings, and he created paintings and drawings from her nature photographs.
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NORTH WOODS AND DULUTH
Earl and Mary owned a cabin near Lutsen MN. He cherished the time he spent in the north woods. Many paintings, prints and drawings were created there and named for the lake ‘Clara’. Living in Duluth, Lake Superior was a constant source of inspiration. Countless paintings and drawings of the Lake Superior horizon with various iterations of light, color and clouds reflected on the lake in many states from calm water to crashing waves or ice. In addition to his artistic endeavors. Earl was a civic leader in Duluth and active in numerous community organizations. He was on the board of the American Red Cross, the United Way Board, Mayor’s Commission on Aging and the Downtown Housing Commission and the St. Louis County Home Health Advisory Committee. He was also active in Pilgrim Congregational Church where he taught Sunday School and in later years managed a gallery space in the church for local artists to display their work. |
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GAY COMMUNITY
Earl was an important figure in the gay community in Duluth. 1983 was a challenging time to come out as gay. The gay rights movement was starting to gain momentum and the AIDS epidemic was in the early stages. Earl was a one of the founders of the Gay Men’s Center in Duluth, the Gay Pride Festival and the multi-denominational Opening our Doors Conference. He was also one of the hosts of a weekly radio show on KUMD called “This Way Out Northland.” Over they years he helped many other gay men as they went through the coming out process. Some of his artwork depicts gay themes. |
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RETIREMENT
After Earl retired he was able to devote more time to his art. During this time he mastered more mediums including pastels, charcoal figure drawing, and spray paint to name a few. From 1995-2007 he enrolled in the University of Minnesota Duluth art classes through the Senior Citizen Education Program (SCEP). He studied printmaking under Robert Rapinski, Jeffery Kalsted and Philip Meany. |
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FINAL DAYS
Earl developed Parkinson’s in his later years. As his motor skills declined he said he could still produce art the way he wanted to in his mind, “I have figured out that even if I can’t create art, I can imagine how I would create it.” Even then, he was still sketching and creating smaller and more simple works . Earl was creating art until the last day he was able. An easel was setup for him in the nursing home where he was living. He was painting there the day he fell ill from septic shock. He died a couple of weeks later. |
EDUCATION AND TRAINING
TRAINING
1955 Gustavus Adolphus College, B.A. Sociology, drawing and painting classes. Instructor: Vold Gutmanis
1956-61 Minneapolis College of Art and Design, night school painting classes. Primary Instructor: Raymond Hendler
1960 Summer workshop Grand Marais Art Colony
1967-70 Minneapolis Institute of Art Saturday Classes
1995-2007 University of Minnesota – Duluth, Classes in etching, lithography, and woodcutting
Instructors: Robert Repinski, Jeffery Kalsted and Philip Mean
1991-2001 University of Wisconsin Superior, Weekly Life Drawing Group
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
Duluth Art Institute, Board member
Duluth Community School, Teacher of numerous painting classes
EXHIBITIONS AND AWARDS
1964 Omaha Nebraska Public Library – one-person painting exhibit
1966 Olmsted Minnesota County Fair – Best of Show award
1966 Rochester Minnesota Art Fair
1968-70 Uptown Art Fair, Minneapolis, MN
1979 Duluth Art Institute – one person show
1982 Art in the Air – Duluth Art Institute Beyond Walls Billboard Show
1982 Art on the Bus - Duluth Art Institute
1999 Northern Printmakers Alliance First Impressions, Lizzard’s Gallery Duluth, MN
2000 Solstice Moon Exhibit, St. Scholastica College, Duluth, MN
2000 Fine Print Macrostie Art Center, Grand Rapids, MN
2001 Source Exhibit, Duluth Art Institute
2000-01 Twin Ports Gay Pride Art Show, Jitters Coffee Shop, Duluth, MN
2001 Earth Day Exhibit, Sivertson Gallery, Duluth ,MN
2004 Beaners Coffee Shop gallery, Spray Can Paint Art – one-person show,
2009 Bloomington Arts Center, with Northern Print Alliance
Annual Northern Print Makers Alliance and Duluth Art Institute member’s shows
ARTIST STATEMENTS
2014 RETROSPECTIVE SHOW - DULUTH ART INSTITUTE
I have a B.A. in sociology from Gustavus Adolphus College. Courses in history, literature, religion and philosophy had a strong influence in how I view the world. Most of my art instruction was at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, which I attended in night school for about four years. Much of it was under the instruction of Raymond Hendler who had a great influence on my work. I also took several workshops and short-term classes over the years. I audited printing classes at UMD from 1995-2007 after retiring from my professional career.
Most of the work I do takes the form of themes from nature, trees, rocks, the sun and moon, my garden, Lake Superior and the north woods. Although the objects in my paintings are usually identifiable they are not often based on any specific scene nor are they literal depictions. My primary interest is in the shapes, forms and colors and how they relate to each other. In one painting a shape may be a tree trunk, while in another painting the same basic shape may be a figure or a totally abstract form.
In my early years I concentrated primarily on oil and acrylic painting, then began to work with woodcuts and batik. My exploration of different media continued with collage, pastels, spray paint, etching, intaglio, lithography, watercolor and more.
I am a lifelong artist and have lived in Duluth since 1973. Art has always been part of me. I pursued it from an early age to the present. It is difficult to explain, but creating artwork fulfills and sustains me. When other parts of my life have ups and downs, art has kept me interested in life.
2004 SPRAY PAINT
My interest in art has been the force that has sustained me since childhood. I have been greatly influenced by nature. Sometimes my images are fairly realistic, but at other times are more abstract. In either way I delight in trying to create my own universe
Last summer I wanted to find some kind of art project that I could do outdoors. I ended up buying cans of spray paint in many colors. I also had scapes of wood in different shapes. I spray painted the wood using masks - paper cutouts, pieces of wood, jar lids, found objects etc - to create the images. Inspiration came mainly from nature, particularly Lake Superior.
1982 BILL BOARD ART
The idea of creating a work that was billboard size was so intriguing that I could not resist trying. I decided to do something bold and simple because I wanted the image to be seen easily by a passing motorist. To additionally reinforce the impact I repeated the basic shapes using bright colors. I wanted the image to be both strong and whimsical. I avoided using realistic shapes because I wanted the image to contrast sharply with the realistic pictures that are usually seen on billboards. I chose the common figure of trees with the idea of being a bee to look at a common sight in a new way.I used the tenth of the space to attempt to convey the feeling that you were looking at just a segment of a continuum.
Working on the problem was itself personally very satisfying and worth the effort on my part.
1982 ARTIST PROFILE IN DULUTH ART INSTITUTE NEWSLETTER
Much of life baffles me. There is so much injustice, so many conflicting forces and unfulfilling expectations. Events so often seem to affect people in such a random and arbitrary manner. In my own life I am constantly reminded of the limitations of human existence. yet, at the same time I dream and hope for fulfillment and meaning in life. In some small way my art gives validity to my hope and in my desire to go beyond myself, my art helps me define myself as a real person in a way that I cannot express in any other way. I try to create a world not only for unity and wholeness, but also one in which I can release joy and freedom of the playful child within me. The visual results of all this are a lot of rocks, moons, circles, triangles, trees, lakes and other symbols. And color, oh yes, I love color. Do I succeed? In one breath I say I don’t take myself too seriously and in another I say that if you don’t delight in my work that is your limitation. Although frequently done very tentatively, my art is a way of reaching out and I am always made more whole when there is a response.
1979 DULUTH ART INSTITUTE SHOW - BACKGROUND INFORMATION
I really don’t remember a time when I wasn’t interested in art, but when I was in high school I hid my interest because I thought it wasn’t the thing to do. I took some art classes in college (Gustavus Adolphus) but felt I should pursue other career interests. My college years did however have an influence on shaping my view of life and this in turn is reflected in my art.
It was during my mid-twenties that I started studying art more seriously. I took night classes at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design for about four years. I was strongly influenced by one of my instructors, Raymond Hendler. He was a teacher who was able to bring out the best in his students without having them paint in his style.
I have taken occasional classes and work shops since then and I realize that I still have a lot to learn. I do feel handicapped by not having a well rounded art background. Someday I hope to have the time to pursue my interest in art relatively uninterrupted so that I can see just how far I can go.
I like to experiment in different media. I have worked in acrylics, batik, wood block printing, found objects collage and constructions in wood. I’ve recently tried water colors again and have been a little more successful than I have in the past. I am also concentrating more on drawing.
I probably would be better off if I used my limited time to work in one media, but I just can’t bring myself to do this, and since the themes of my work seem to come through in whatever media I work in, I guess all is not lost by being so undisciplined.
2014 RETROSPECTIVE SHOW - DULUTH ART INSTITUTE
I have a B.A. in sociology from Gustavus Adolphus College. Courses in history, literature, religion and philosophy had a strong influence in how I view the world. Most of my art instruction was at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, which I attended in night school for about four years. Much of it was under the instruction of Raymond Hendler who had a great influence on my work. I also took several workshops and short-term classes over the years. I audited printing classes at UMD from 1995-2007 after retiring from my professional career.
Most of the work I do takes the form of themes from nature, trees, rocks, the sun and moon, my garden, Lake Superior and the north woods. Although the objects in my paintings are usually identifiable they are not often based on any specific scene nor are they literal depictions. My primary interest is in the shapes, forms and colors and how they relate to each other. In one painting a shape may be a tree trunk, while in another painting the same basic shape may be a figure or a totally abstract form.
In my early years I concentrated primarily on oil and acrylic painting, then began to work with woodcuts and batik. My exploration of different media continued with collage, pastels, spray paint, etching, intaglio, lithography, watercolor and more.
I am a lifelong artist and have lived in Duluth since 1973. Art has always been part of me. I pursued it from an early age to the present. It is difficult to explain, but creating artwork fulfills and sustains me. When other parts of my life have ups and downs, art has kept me interested in life.
2004 SPRAY PAINT
My interest in art has been the force that has sustained me since childhood. I have been greatly influenced by nature. Sometimes my images are fairly realistic, but at other times are more abstract. In either way I delight in trying to create my own universe
Last summer I wanted to find some kind of art project that I could do outdoors. I ended up buying cans of spray paint in many colors. I also had scapes of wood in different shapes. I spray painted the wood using masks - paper cutouts, pieces of wood, jar lids, found objects etc - to create the images. Inspiration came mainly from nature, particularly Lake Superior.
1982 BILL BOARD ART
The idea of creating a work that was billboard size was so intriguing that I could not resist trying. I decided to do something bold and simple because I wanted the image to be seen easily by a passing motorist. To additionally reinforce the impact I repeated the basic shapes using bright colors. I wanted the image to be both strong and whimsical. I avoided using realistic shapes because I wanted the image to contrast sharply with the realistic pictures that are usually seen on billboards. I chose the common figure of trees with the idea of being a bee to look at a common sight in a new way.I used the tenth of the space to attempt to convey the feeling that you were looking at just a segment of a continuum.
Working on the problem was itself personally very satisfying and worth the effort on my part.
1982 ARTIST PROFILE IN DULUTH ART INSTITUTE NEWSLETTER
Much of life baffles me. There is so much injustice, so many conflicting forces and unfulfilling expectations. Events so often seem to affect people in such a random and arbitrary manner. In my own life I am constantly reminded of the limitations of human existence. yet, at the same time I dream and hope for fulfillment and meaning in life. In some small way my art gives validity to my hope and in my desire to go beyond myself, my art helps me define myself as a real person in a way that I cannot express in any other way. I try to create a world not only for unity and wholeness, but also one in which I can release joy and freedom of the playful child within me. The visual results of all this are a lot of rocks, moons, circles, triangles, trees, lakes and other symbols. And color, oh yes, I love color. Do I succeed? In one breath I say I don’t take myself too seriously and in another I say that if you don’t delight in my work that is your limitation. Although frequently done very tentatively, my art is a way of reaching out and I am always made more whole when there is a response.
1979 DULUTH ART INSTITUTE SHOW - BACKGROUND INFORMATION
I really don’t remember a time when I wasn’t interested in art, but when I was in high school I hid my interest because I thought it wasn’t the thing to do. I took some art classes in college (Gustavus Adolphus) but felt I should pursue other career interests. My college years did however have an influence on shaping my view of life and this in turn is reflected in my art.
It was during my mid-twenties that I started studying art more seriously. I took night classes at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design for about four years. I was strongly influenced by one of my instructors, Raymond Hendler. He was a teacher who was able to bring out the best in his students without having them paint in his style.
I have taken occasional classes and work shops since then and I realize that I still have a lot to learn. I do feel handicapped by not having a well rounded art background. Someday I hope to have the time to pursue my interest in art relatively uninterrupted so that I can see just how far I can go.
I like to experiment in different media. I have worked in acrylics, batik, wood block printing, found objects collage and constructions in wood. I’ve recently tried water colors again and have been a little more successful than I have in the past. I am also concentrating more on drawing.
I probably would be better off if I used my limited time to work in one media, but I just can’t bring myself to do this, and since the themes of my work seem to come through in whatever media I work in, I guess all is not lost by being so undisciplined.