Artist uses clear cellulose to create truly unique pieces of art

louie traub/viewAustine Wood Comarow?s art consists of layers of clear cellulose between polarized filters. louie traub/viewInternationally known artist Austine Wood Comarow poses with her art, which consists of layers of clear cellulose between polarized filters to create colorful original works in her Las Vegas studio. Advertisement

The list of artists who truly can say that the method used to create their art is completely original probably is quite short, but locally based and internationally known Austine Wood Comarow can count herself on that list. She is the world's one and only Polage artist, a medium she trademarked and has been creating for 40 years.

The artist, who signs her work simply "Austine," had an unusual upbringing as the daughter of a United Nations official. She was an American raised in Geneva, Switzerland, with classmates from all over the globe. She attended college in the United States, Chile and Switzerland. A combination of exposure to a wide variety of experiences and a general air of experimentation in the art field in the '60s led her to create her unique Polages.

Wood Comarow created her first Polage in 1967 by carefully arranging, angling and cutting candy wrappers until she had formed a rough image. Polages are works created using the subtle differences in assorted polarized films, all hand cut and carefully arranged to create an image that may or may not be visible to the naked eye. The pieces utilize the same refractory science that allows us to see rainbows. Essentially, the artwork is a blend of science, nature and design.

In her 40 years of Polaging, Wood Comarow has developed a number of forms. Some of her pieces appear as flat, silvery surfaces to the naked eye, but reveal beautiful, colorful images when viewed through a polarized filter. Others are illuminated and show multiple images, as a rotating polarized filter bends the light in different angles to reveal hidden treasures in the art. Still others use natural light to reveal one image on the surface of the piece and another in its multicolored shadow.

Wood Comarow and her assistants craft all the pieces out of her home in south Las Vegas. The large room is flooded with natural light, and recent pieces hang all about. The tools of her unique art form are all about the room. A rack stands near one wall with an assortment of rolls of plastic, the basic medium of her art. There are lighted tables, lamps, razor knives and sketches for pieces still waiting to be created. To the casual observer, it might seem unclear why so many pairs of sunglasses are strewn about. These are polarized sunglasses, which Wood Comarow wears while designing her pieces. They allow her to see the transparent plastic film as a multitude of color.

Wood Comarow and her husband, David, have lived and worked in this home for 10 years. Prior to this, she lived in Boulder City and spent some years in California before returning to the Silver State. For that same decade, she has enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship with Maui Jim sunglasses. She creates original works that are displayed in many of its retail locations. The pieces vary in size and content, but all share the commonality that when a customer puts on a pair of Maui Jim sunglasses, the art miraculously transforms.

"They're a wonderful client," Wood Comarow said of Maui Jim. "They're kind of like my patron. They let me do pretty much anything I want to, and what they buy from me pays for my experimentation and fun projects."

The Maui Jim Web site lists over 100 retailers carrying its product in the valley, most of which display a piece by Wood Comarow.

Wood Comarow doesn't show her artwork in galleries as much as she once did.

"I'm doing most of my sales through my Web site (www.austine.com)," she said. "I love the Internet."

Her home studio is open by appointment only. Some of her larger work can be seen in her former neighborhood in Boulder City, where she once had a gallery. The Boulder City/Hoover Dam Museum at 1305 Arizona St. has a few of her pieces for sale. A piece by Wood Comarow also is displayed at the Boulder City Credit Union at 530 Avenue G.

"It's a good piece, people like it," manager Bill Ferrence said. "We have a great place here, but Austine's work would improve any location."

Currently, Wood Comarow is preparing work for a retrospective show to be held in 2009 at The Lakewood Museum in Peoria, Ill., which will run from March 27 to June 7 of that year. Her very first Polage will be on display, as well as her most recent pieces and many works from the in-between years. She's also developing yet another technique to reveal there, as well.

"I'm going for the work that has a sort of tech look, maybe even featuring some things with electronics and things like that contrasted with the imagery of nature," Wood Comarow said. "Those are the two things I want to bring together and contrast. If we can bring those two things into some sort of harmonious relationship, that's the important thing."