Keeping late Rochester artist Luke Austin’s legacy alive

(ABC 6 News) – Suicide can leave a family distraught and searching for answers and moving forward can be very difficult.

But for the family of Luke Austin, they’re doing something special to make his legacy live on.

“He was a big part of this community, especially the art scene in this community,” Luke’s brother Jake Austin said.

Luke Austin was known as a tattoo artist in Rochester, but to his family, he was much more than that.

“He had an infectious personality and just a very bright spirit and he just enjoyed creating and doing things with other people,” Phil Austin said.

Luke tragically took his life in November 2022, and now his family is honoring him in a special way.

For the past week, Austin’s family put together ‘Luke’s Legacy – Tattoo portraits’ as a way to honor Luke’s memory.

They teamed up with Full Circle Photograph Wednesday to take professional portraits of tattoos done by Luke.

Treedome was one of the spots that held portrait sessions for anyone to come in.

Luke made an impression on the Rochester community and they hope they can celebrate his legacy with them.

A reception/celebration of life will kick off the art show at RCTC this Saturday, January 7th, from 6 p.m.-8 p.m.

“So it goes. – A collection of artwork by Luke Austin” will be hosted at the RCTC art gallery during the month of January.

But this is just the start as his brother Phil hopes he can start a scholarship named after Luke at RCTC.