Nizzhonniya

Nizhonniya Austin is a musician & painter born and raised in Juneau, Alaska. She studied studio arts at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Nizhonniya continues to live and paint in Santa Fe.

” I have been experimenting with abstract expressionism for over seven years now.

One of the main components of this form of visual art that continues to captivate me is the amount of freedom involved in its process, and the amount of freedom that I allow. My painting style is almost completely unguided and unplanned; I do not use sketch books or drawings. Instead, I allow myself to be guided moment to moment – solving each ‘mistake’ as I go along. This entire process that I have been practicing is about the journey of trusting oneself, forgiving mistakes that one has made, and trusting the instinctual gifts of creativity. With my paintings, I am not only challenging the freedom I have within myself, but I am also challenging the ethereal relationship between artist and surface. “