The roster of nine Austin Art Space resident artists changed with the New Year. Austin painter Terry Starnes and photographer Orion Knox have taken studio space in the cooperative that just began its second year in business.

Known especially for her portraits, Terry Starnes’ confident brush strokes and bold use of color and contrast give her work a distinctive authority. Her paintings grace personal and corporate collections in Chicago, Los Angeles, Santa Fe, Palm Springs, El Paso, Dallas, Houston and Port O’Conner, as well as Austin.

Ms. Starnes joined Austin Art Space for a number of reasons. She said, “One of the joys of being an artist is painting with and around other artists. It's a fairly common misconception that artists like painting alone. We support and critique each other not only in our love and appreciation of art, but in our respect and appreciation of each other. I decided to showcase my artwork at Austin Art Space because I’m impressed with the professionalism of the other in-house artists.”

Orion Knox has been a dedicated photographer for over 40 years. His subjects range from white sand dunes in New Mexico to flora in Costa Rica to the Sahara in Morocco to wildlife in Antarctica to a Kazakh family in Mongolia. His keen eye for detail and innate use of natural light imbues his images with a unity that immerses the viewer in the scene.

Though much of Mr. Knox’s creation necessarily takes place outside the studio, he chose to join the collective. He noted, “My photography has been well received over the years at the numerous travel presentations I have made. And, I was pleasantly surprised at the interest in my work at recent exhibits including North Hills Gallery and E.A.S.T. I wanted a space that would enhance the presentation of my work and allow patrons access to it on an on-going basis.”

Mr. Knox has had his photographs published in Texas Highways, Texas Parks and Wildlife, Country Wildlife, Wilderness Travel Catalog and several books on caves and cave exploration.

Valerie Walden, manager of Austin Art Space commented, “We’re thrilled to have Terry and Orion on board. They add completely different dimensions to the work we can present here. And, their energy is tangible. Our charge is to encourage emerging and established artists to create, collaborate and present their work. Terry and Orion fulfill that mission, broaden our scope and raise our aesthetic level all at the same time.”

Ms. Walden continued, “Since we opened in November 2008, Austin Art Space has hosted 14 separate exhibitions including four juried shows. And, we have showcased over 80 different artists from all over Texas, and as far away as New York, Alaska, France and New Zealand. We plan to expand on that schedule in 2010 beginning with the 5^th Annual “For the Love of Art” juried exhibition, February 8-27. We think Austin Art Space is well on its way to becoming an integral part of the local and regional art scenes.”