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The Austin ArtWorks Festival — a two-day celebration of the visual, performing, and literary arts — will mark its 13th anniversary year Aug. 24-25 with featured artist Ta-coumba T. Aiken. 

Aiken is a painter and public fine arts activist living in St. Paul. He calls his abstract style, superlative realism that combines two drawing styles, rhythm patterns and spirit writing. As a colorblind artist he starts all of his works using black marks on primarily white surfaces creating an outline composition like blueprints or coloring books, and then adds color.

He creates work to touch the viewer’s heart, mind and spirit through thought provoking visual play. His community engagement processes and collaborations inform both his public and personal creative development; and their stories become an integral part of his art, allowing larger audiences to experience art in/of their lives. 

Aiken has served on many arts organization boards such as the Minneapolis Arts Commission, African American Cultural Arts Center, Forecast Public Arts, St. Paul Art Collective, and The Minneapolis College of Art and Design. He was the first African American and abstract artist selected to create a State Fair promotional poster. He was also named a 2022 Guggenheim Fellow. 

Aiken will be available both days of the festival to talk about his work and engage in the project. He will also have work exhibited on the second floor gallery of the Austin ArtWorks Center during the festival. 

The Austin ArtWorks Festival will feature 73 exhibiting and emerging artists from seven states, an authors and theatrical arts stage, live music, free family art activities, art making demonstrations, and the Trunk Show at the ArtWorks Center.