Art in the Library: With Renee Austin’s ‘Crisis: Mother Earth”, storyteller seeks a happy ending | Arts & Theatre

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The painting “Twin Pandemics” underscores Austin’s premonitions about artificial intelligence.

“AI Covid 29” by Renee Austin.

Renee Austin

“AIs or robots scare me,” she said. “They are simple now, but what about the future when they realize they are living smarter, stronger, and longer?”

“Professor Stephen Hawking, one of Britain’s eminent scientists, told the BBC that ‘developing full artificial intelligence could mean the end of mankind,'” Austin said. “I’m so concerned that I compared AI to Covid.”

Austin’s affinity for humans, animals and the earth was heightened through travel. As a child whose father was a Pan-American pilot, she saw life in many places. By the time she was 13, Austin had made eight cross-country moves with her family.

Austin grew up in California, New York, Connecticut, and Texas and moved to Napa in 1979. She has traveled extensively in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Central and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

In the past 11 years she has made 11 overseas trips – mostly to third world countries.

“All of these trips have given me an openness to people from other places and cultures,” she said.

While living in St. Helena in the 1980s and 1990s, Austin worked on several photographic projects that she exhibited in Napa, Sonoma, and Marin Counties, as well as in San Francisco.

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