The Woods Woman Method – Panel Discussion

Artist Saya Woolfalk will host a public panel introducing the Woods Woman Method Workshop Series, developed in collaboration with Austin-based artists Kyla Gaganam, Alexis Hunter, and Allison Lash. Commissioned by the Austin Arts, Cultural, Music and Entertainment (ACME) Art in Public Places (AIPP) program for a permanent, large-scale installation at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, Woolfalk’s project invites community members to help shape an immersive, site-specific story world grounded in Austin’s cultural and ecological landscape. Constance White from Austin Aviation will be moderating the panel.

The Woods Woman Method combines art, storytelling, and cultural research to explore identity, hybrid beings, and human relationships to nature. Drawing on the concept of “Empathics”—part-human, part-plant figures—the method uses imagination, myth, and cross-cultural influences to envision new ways of being and belonging.

ABOUT THE PANELISTS

Saya Woolfalk creates works of art that incorporate the African American, European American, and Japanese influences of her family background. Also alluding to science fiction, feminist theory, mythology, anthropology, archaeology, Eastern religion, craft, and fashion, she imagines a utopian, empathic world through painting, sculpture, video, performance, multimedia installations, and public artworks. She earned her B.A. in visual art and economics from Brown University in 2001 and her MFA in sculpture from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2004.

Woolfalk has presented multimedia works and performances at museums, galleries, and alternative spaces throughout the U.S. and in Asia including solo shows at the Newark Museum of Art, NJ: the Nelson Atkins Museum, Kansas City, MO; the Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH; the Mead Art Museum, Amherst, MA; The SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, GA; the Sheldon Museum of Art, Lincoln, NE; the Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA; and the Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY, among others. She has also participated in group shows at the Museum of Arts and Design, New York; the Brooklyn Museum; the Fowler Museum, UCLA, Los Angeles; the Seattle Art Museum; the Studio Museum in Harlem; MoMA PS1; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; the Contemporary Art Museum, Houston; Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco; and many other museums and galleries throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia.

sayawoolfalk.com

Constance Y. White is an arts administrator, artist and corporate disruptor who serves as Guest Services Division Manager and Design Lead for Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS). In this role, Constance works strategically to enable exhibitions and music programs while also, developing and directing visual, functional, and strategic plans for intuitive wayfinding and integrated art within large infrastructure projects. Her extensive experience reinforces a daily focus on guiding comprehensive and holistic approaches to human-centered, site-specific design and passenger experiences that results in a more welcoming and aesthetically pleasing airport environment.

Constance.white@flyaustin.com

Alexis Hunter is a multidisciplinary artist, curator, and educator currently living and working in Austin, TX. She earned a BFA in Studio Art from Texas State University in 2022, graduating summa cum laude. Her work explores self-image, racial identity, the female body, and the male gaze, through painting, video, social practice, and participatory programming. Hunter approaches both making and curating with honesty and vulnerability, creating spaces for empathy, dialogue, and communal engagement. She currently teaches oil painting at the Contemporary Austin’s Art School at Laguna Gloria.

alexishunter.studio

Kyla Gaganam is an Austin-based artist and educator whose drawing practice is rooted in Kalamkari traditions, using Indofuturist and ecofeminist frameworks to challenge colorism, caste, and dominant narratives in South Asian mythology and storytelling. Her work reimagines traditional South Asian narratives through the lens of those historically excluded from them, layering climate science, environmental injustice, and intersectionality as recurring threads and symbolism in her practice. She holds a Master’s degree in Sustainability from Harvard and works as a community organizer and teaching artist in Austin.

kylagaganam.com

Allison Lash is an Austin-based teaching artist, community builder, and the person behind Awesome Art!, a passion project dedicated to making art accessible and enjoyable for everyone. Having earned a Master of Fine Arts from Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts, Allison spent a decade teaching art in public schools before expanding her reach to people of all ages and backgrounds through hands-on creative experiences, from hand-building in clay and suminagashi marbling to mindfulness-based artmaking. She has collaborated with notable institutions across Austin, San Antonio, Houston and New York City (including the Blanton Museum of Art, Austin ISD, Artspace, The Orange Show Center For Visionary Art, and the Noguchi Museum) because she feels deeply that making art has a remarkable way of connecting us all.

awesomeartaustin.com