Austin · Artist Spotlight
Erin Curtis Weaves Paintings You Could Almost Touch
The Austin abstractionist builds densely layered, hand-cut canvases rooted in weaving, nature, and ritual — a Contemporary Austin solo artist represented by Conduit Gallery.
'Fire Season' by Erin Curtis — see more at erinelizabethcurtis.com
Erin Curtis's paintings look less painted than built. The Austin abstractionist works in acrylic on cut and layered canvas, stacking hand-cut shapes almost like collage until a surface reads like a dense, color-saturated tapestry. As her gallery statement puts it, the paintings are "intensely handmade and united in their dense weavings of color." The roots run to actual weaving — and to nature, ritual, and the women who, as she describes it, "sew their stories into garments, quilts and rugs."
At a Glance
- Based in
- Austin, Texas
- Medium
- Acrylic on cut & layered canvas
- Themes
- Weaving, nature, ritual
- Museum solo
- The Contemporary Austin
- Represented by
- Conduit Gallery
Abstraction you can almost touch
Curtis builds her work by cutting and layering canvas into pattern-dense compositions that echo textiles and architecture. "I want the work to have this inside-outside feel," she says, "to have some references to architecture and design, but also a feeling of growth and nature." She earned a BA from Williams College and an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin, studied at Skowhegan, and held a Fulbright in Jaipur, India — a thread of pattern, craft, and ornament that runs straight through the work.
From a museum solo to public walls
Curtis's reach runs from the intimate to the architectural. The Contemporary Austin gave her a solo museum show, Further West, at the Gatehouse Gallery at Laguna Gloria — an immersive installation that moved her work off the wall and into sculpture and furniture. Beyond the gallery, she's made public and site-specific work for the Chicago Transit Authority, the U.S. State Department's Art in Embassies program, and Rice University's Moody Center for the Arts, backed by grants from the Andy Warhol Foundation and the Dallas Museum of Art, among others.
I want the work to have this inside-outside feel — references to architecture and design, but also a feeling of growth and nature.
Working with the constraints
What keeps Curtis's maximal surfaces from tipping into chaos is a discipline she talks about openly: she's always asking "what are the constraints? How can I use those constraints to make the work more interesting?" The result is abstraction that's both ecstatic and structured — built up, broken down, and built again, with the patient logic of a loom.
Why we're watching her
Curtis has a museum solo, national public-art commissions, and prestigious grants behind a body of work that's instantly recognizable. A serious, widely-collected Austin abstractionist with a craft-rooted voice all her own.
Where to see her work
Her portfolio lives at erinelizabethcurtis.com, and she posts on Instagram at @erincurtisstudio. She is represented by Conduit Gallery in Dallas — the best contact for available work.
About this spotlight: an independent, unpaid feature, written because we admire the work — drawn from public sources, including the artist's own statements, her gallery, The Contemporary Austin, and a Sightlines profile. All artwork and images are the artist's; see the work in full via the links above.
Questions, answered
Who is Erin Curtis?
Where can I see Erin Curtis's work?
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Where to find Erin Curtis
Love Erin's work? Here's everywhere to see more, follow along, and support Erin directly. Give a follow, share the work, and — if a piece speaks to you — buy from the artist.
Erin was chosen for an Austin Gallery spotlight simply because we admire the work — a free, unpaid feature with nothing asked in return. We believe a gallery's real job is to help people find work worth loving. If you make art in Austin, we'd be honored to celebrate yours too —tell us about your work.
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