Austen Brantley “Burnt Offerings” is Now on View through April 11th
Reception: Friday, March 27th | 6 - 9 PM
Melannie Chard
Mar 22, 2026
Fledging’s Potential, 2026 | Ceramic and wood stain on granite base, 23 × 11 × 13 inches
Austen Brantley's work has always had a sensitivity to it. There is a deliberate care for the subject that means the emotional impact of his figures is consistently visible. This is achieved not just through his sculptural practice but also through treatment of surfaces. Using clay, fire and various wood stains, the way that Austen finishes a piece is almost as telling as the subject themselves.
Photos by CJ Benninger
In this new body of work, he has shifted his approach by altering the palette and building a full series around red patina. This surface treatment establishes a clear progression in his work. The result is that the pieces in Burnt Offerings feel timeless and hold a sense of being revealed and uncovered.
The color red carries many meanings. It is the color of the body, of blood, earth and regeneration.
Dream Bearer, 2026 | Ceramic and wood stain on granite base, 22 × 12 × 10 inches
You can see it in the way the figures hold themselves, and in the way smaller forms begin to emerge and interact with larger ones. The result is that the sculptures feel more open, layered and resolved.
Austen Brantley working on Cornucopia
Brantley's use of stain sits within a longer sculptural heritage recalling artists such as Augusta Savage during the Harlem Renaissance, who used surface treatments to imitate bronze when casting was not always accessible. In Brantley's work, the patina is not meant to mimic bronze but to invoke emotion and a conversation about the body, the earth, and time.
Earthbound 1, 2026 | Ceramic and wood stain on granite base, 26 × 8 × 9 inches
The exhibition runs through April 11th and we are open Thursday - Saturday from 12-6 PM. Join us for the reception on March 27 from 6–9 PM, coinciding with The National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts Conference (NCECA).
Austen was an NCECA Emerging Artist Winner in 2023.
Austen Brantley is a Detroit-based sculptor whose work explores cultural memory, resilience, and the power of figurative representation through ceramic and bronze sculpture.
In 2023 he was named a Kresge Arts Fellowship recipient and a National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts Emerging Artist Fellow. His work has been exhibited nationally and is currently included in a major exhibition at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit.
Brantley has also completed significant public commissions including work at the Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Alabama, and a bronze memorial honoring Joe Louis for the City of Detroit.
This is his second solo exhibition with M Contemporary Art.