Frank Austin (artist)

Frank Austin ( 1938–March 2, 2017), also called Bahah Zhonie ("Happy Boy" in Navajo), is a Navajo American painter and textile artist born in Tsegi Canyon, Arizona, under the Navajo Salt Clan. He has exhibited his work across the country and is known for his silkscreen designs and textile paintings. Some of his works are in the permanent collection of institutions including the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.

Austin's work included portraits, landscapes, and depictions of wildlife. He worked for a time under Lloyd H. New as a textile artist at Kiva Fashion-Creative. In 1970 he opened a textile business, Nizhonie Fabrics, in Cortez, Colorado, offering hand-printed textiles.

Personal life

Austin was one of eight children of Buck and Martha Smallcanyon Austin. He studied at the Phoenix Indian School, graduating in 1958. He then attended Arizona State University and the University of Arizona as the recipient of a Southwest Indian Art Scholarship as well as a Rockefeller Scholarship.

He married Rose L. Adajie in 1960 and had three children. Austin died in March 2017 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

External links

Frank Austin works at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian

References

2017 deaths

20th-century American painters

20th-century indigenous painters of the Americas

20th-century Native American artists

Navajo painters

Navajo artists

Painters from Arizona

Native American textile artists

Textile designers

Arizona State University alumni

University of Arizona alumni

20th-century American printmakers

21st-century Native American artists

Textile artists from Arizona