Watch video about the retrospective show at Lakeview Museum at CentralIllinoisProud.com.

Read more about the retrospective exhibit at PJStar.com.

About Austine Studios

Austine Wood Comarow started working in her original polarized light art medium in 1967 and has continuously developed and perfected the art form ever since.  Austine creates interactive and kinetic or morphing figurative images using a combination of polarized filters and special birefringent materials.  When displayed in special kinetic light boxes they change in ways invocative of passing time: a sun setting, seasons change, people age.  The remarkable art requires cutting thousands of tiny pieces of clear cellulose and other optically active materials and laminating them onto a clear matrix such as acrylic or glass.  The resulting images can be displayed in motorized light boxes so they continually change, or in an interactive format so the viewer activates the image with a polarizing viewer.  In a sense the work is reminiscent of stained glass except the colors are extremely vibrant as they result from refraction rather than absorption, much like a rainbow.

Austine Wood Comarow grew up in postwar Europe where her father directed the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, which won the Nobel Peace Prize under his leadership.  Having lived abroad for many years, she speaks five languages fluently.  After attending Swarthmore College, she obtained a B.A. in Russian Language and Literature at the University of Indiana, and later earned an M.F.A. in illustration from Syracuse University.  At a crucial point in her artistic development, she discovered that certain transparent materials produce colors when they are illuminated with polarized light and are viewed through polarizing filters.  Most of her work since then has been devoted to controlling this phenomenon and creating an entirely new artistic medium.  Austine is also an accomplished painter.  Known professionally as Austine, her work is held in private, corporate and museum collections worldwide.