Ventana Gallery at Roche Tissue Diagnostics

Abundance Receives Third Place at Gastronomy Tucson

Judith Austen’s mixed-media work Abundance is currently on view in Gastronomy Tucson: Documenting Our Food Culture at Ventana Gallery at Roche Tissue Diagnostics in Oro Valley, Arizona. Even better, the work received Third Place in Innovation in Material / Concept.

Created in 2025, Abundance is composed of Sonoran Desert seed pods on Mexican bark paper, mounted on linen. Austen’s use of natural and handmade materials gives the work its striking sculptural quality, with the dried pods and stems extending across the textured surface of the bark paper.

The materials also make Abundance particularly well suited to Gastronomy Tucson. The exhibition explores Southern Arizona’s food culture and its connections to the region’s landscape, history, agriculture, and communities. Tucson was designated the first UNESCO City of Gastronomy in the United States, recognizing a food heritage shaped by thousands of years of desert agriculture and cultural exchange.

Rather than depicting food itself, Abundance approaches the subject at its source. Seed pods, objects Austen has transformed into both material and subject, speak to growth, harvest, and the continuing cycle of the desert landscape.

The Innovation in Material / Concept award recognizes the distinctive role Austen’s materials play in the work. The combination of Sonoran Desert seed pods, Mexican bark paper, and linen reflects an approach that appears throughout her practice: an interest in texture, natural forms, and the possibilities of unconventional materials.

Gastronomy Tucson: Documenting Our Food Culture is presented in partnership with Art State Arizona and is on view at Ventana Gallery at Roche Tissue Diagnostics from September 2026 through January 2027.

Congratulations to Judith on this well-deserved recognition!