Welcome to the depths of my creative world - a place where I explore ideas, materials, color, pattern, and the questions that continue to pull me forward.
Mercedes Austin Art has been a constant thread throughout my life. Long before Mercury Mosaics became a nationally recognized handmade tile company, I was an artist searching for my own visual language. Through formal art education, continuing studies, artist collaborations, and decades of experimentation, I've remained committed to understanding what feels distinctly my own.
DUSTY SUNSTONE VISTA - in progress
One of the greatest gifts of my life has been retaining a relentless sense of curiousity. That curiousity has taken me through the creation of Mercury Mosaics, collaborations with other artists, meaningful relationships, heartbreak, reconciliation, travel, architecture, culture, and countless experiments. Through it all, I found my voice.
Today, my work continues to explore the intersection of craftsmanship, transformation, resilience, and beauty. I am drawn to the idea that materials, and people, can be reimagined, rebuilt, and given new purpose.
The fact that I am able to use my hands, my mind, my heart and my work ethic in service of an artistic practice is something I never take for granted. Growing up surrounded by makers, artists, and craftspeople taught me the value of creating, but life has also taught me how easy it can be to lose touch with the things that matter most.
What I've learned over the years is simple: always return to what is calling you.
The rewards rarely arrive in the form we expect. More often, they appear as purpose, connection, growth, and a deeper understanding of ourselves. Creative work has carried me through seasons of uncertainty, change, and reinvention. It has reminded me who I am when life becomes noisy.
This website is a home for that exploration. A place to share the work, the stories, and the ongoing journey of becoming.
GRIT - in progress
This website represents more than the launch of a new platform. It is a reminder that I never stopped being an artist.
More than two
COLLISION STUDY NO. 1 - detail
My personal art practice has evolved and I find myself fascinated with the collision of multiple materials telling a story in layers of textures. The tactile feel of powder coated steel juxtaposed with matte and glossy planes of tile in various dimensions never gets old for me. The process of setting up a work station, planning the substrate, curating tile pieces and sipping on my favorite beverage is like going on a vacation - taking me somewhere new each time. I've truly fallen in love with the process at this stage of life, now shedding any fixation on an outcome and what things should look like, how the art is transacted with in the end and the pressure I used to put on myself as an artist. This has given be freedom to lose myself in my pieces and to receive something from them that I can only tap into during the creative process.
STILL GROWING - WHAT HOLDS SERIES - in progress
The people I've had the pleasure of learning from and connecting to over the last couple decades of my life are the best part of this journey. Looking back and seeing how many people that are in my life today that were there in the beginning blows me away and is a reminder of the gift this life is. Reflecting on folks I've lost who have either moved on entirely from this life, or have naturally drifted apart is also something I hold dear and have a profound respect for the evolution life is constantly giving.
If there's one profound lesson that I keep coming back to and continuously need to hear, it's Handle Hard Better. Somewhere in the middle of my career, I got soft and lost sight of how to handle challenges like a champ. This video became an important reminder that it doesn't get easier, but instead you become someone who handles hard better. As Kara Lawson says: "you become someone who handles hard better and you're gonna be ok." Such a simple statement and immensely empowering and freeing. It is a total reframe and a shift in mindset. Sometimes I have this sense that as an American, some of these needs to have things easier, or create shortcuts were pre-built into me, and as I grow into the adult I'm becoming (I consider this a constant evolution) I dismantle layers of this pre-set American mindset and tap into ancestral wisdom. Some of that wisdom embraces hard work, layers of learning, continuous improvements... shedding overnight success and embracing the long game.
MOOD BOARD FOR MERCEDES AUSTIN ART BRANDING & MESSAGING
I hope to be an example to artists to never give up on their dreams. It hasn’t been easy to stay in the game and continue the exploration, carry on with putting myself out there, but the dignity that comes from standing up after every failure and victory - it breeds a depth of dignity that no one can take from you. Letting go of the fixation of what it should look like and instead seeing what it is is a level of freedom that is personal, that no one can define for you and that is between you and what you tap into during your creative flow. Making the time, space and creating the energy to tap into this has been a gift.
When you put your mind to something, you can do it. There will always be obstacles but when you release yourself from the pressure of having the picture-perfect end result, you’ll have a better chance of reaching your goals.
“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” – Colin Powell
