FROM THE ASHES OF A DISASTER: ARTEOLOGY BY PACE GRAD

By Juan Montoya
Remember the Hill Country fires that burned down people's homes, investments and dreams in a blazing inferno?

Well, out of the ashes, a former Pace High School graduate has crated an art form. It's called Arteology, an is defined by her as "the creation and thought-provoking works from the material remains of artifacts dug up from the rubble left after a disaster.
She named the work on the left "Fistful" and is composed of kitchen utensils she found in the rubble that used to be her home.
That artist in Maria Hohenstein, Ed.D, who in 2011 lost her home in the Bastrop Complex. As is usually the case, her art was created out of necessity.  She created her first piece after after sorting through broken glass, fractured ceramic and rusted metal in order to preserve memories.
"Once they were lost, but now they are found," she said. These objects that contain the memories of a homestead with all its accompanying memory and remembrance have become an obsession with her that has resulted in scores of works.
Her works of art take the material remains of ordinary artifacts and breathe new life, grant dignity, and assign added value to found objects. Dubbed "Arteology," the technique she created involves taking three-dimensional found objects and placing them in a two-dimensional
setting. All materials used, including frames, have been reclaimed, reused, and upcycled.The work on the right is called "Precariously Perched."
She's been an award-winning participant in Bastrop's First Friday and has shown in Art on the Green and at the Bastrop Art Gallery. Her work is currently displayed at the Arts Connection Gallery. Maria resides in Bastrop and has lived in Brownsville, Austin, San
Antonio, Corpus Christi, Sioux City lA, and Cupertino CA.
A Trinity and Baylor grad, she is currently an Associate Superintendent for Area 2 in the Austin ISD.
If you're in Austin this weekend, make sure you go the the wildly popular Heart of Texas Green Expo at 1408 Chestnut Street, Bastrop, Texas. The show will be from Saturday, June through Sunday, June 9, from 10 a.m. through 5 p.m.
If you go, say hello to my little sister.