Austin Turley grew up in Dallas, Texas where his interest in materials and composition led him into drawing, painting, and music.  After receiving an AAS he met sculptor Robert Winslow.  Two months later, Turley moved to Chicago and for two years was Winslow’s apprentice.  There he learned a new skill set that informed his relationship to materials, sculpture construction, and carving. In 2014, Turley received a BFA in sculpture from Pacific Northwest College of Art.  He currently works as a caster for Bullseye Glass Company where he continues his material exploration and education.

Statement
I am drawn to the project of working with materials gleaned from the waste stream because my artistic practice stems from and responds to the act of collecting.  I believe these materials possess the capacity to act as a proxy for things beyond themselves and their seemingly simple material existence.  I am drawn to the metaphorical nature of these things and the traces of life they carry and the simultaneously objective and subjective memory that can be found in their contents.  I want the viewer to experience my work as an interesting discovery, during which non-referential images and objects are transformed into spatial narratives.