Leisa Rich

*Feathured photo:Father, Son and Holy Ghost, 2021, 66” X 80” X 3”. Materials: Repurposed textiles, dyes, oil paint, embroidery floss, thread. Technique: Free motion embroidery, painted, applique, sewn, copyright Leisa Rich

Leisa Rich, a fibre artist originally from Ontario, Canada, holds a Master of Fine Arts, a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Bachelor of Education in Art and has been teaching for 47 years in schools, art centres, universities and in her studio in the United States and Canada. 

Drawing inspiration from personal experiences and the dynamics of everyday life, Leisa Rich creates sculptures and installations that refer to lush worlds rich in colour and varied textures, utopian atmospheres in which fantastical organisms come to life, inviting the viewer to interact with the work and be transported into an alternative, immersive reality.

The experience accumulated through years of teaching art disciplines, experience as a stylist, fashion and jewellery designer, has enabled her to acquire knowledge in many areas and to put into practice techniques and methods of working with the most diverse materials including resin, fabric and clay. All this wealth of skills and abilities has flowed into an artistic practice in which old and new materials in combination with techniques typical of fibre art such as embroidery, free motion stitching, dyeing, are manipulated, deconstructed, transformed, until the final work is created.

Her artwork is inspired by artists of the calibre of Magdalena Abakanowicz, El Anatsui, Ernesto Neto and the Korean sculptor Do Ho Suh, whose work contributes to changing the point of view and debunking clichés about fibre art.

Leisa Rich’s work has been widely exhibited in group and solo exhibitions of international reach and is featured in the permanent collections of Delta Airlines Inc., Hilton Hotels, Emory Healthcare, Emory Women’s Health, The Kamm Foundation, The Dallas Museum of Art, The University of Texas, The University of North Texas, and in private collections in the United States, Canada, and the European Union. 

In 2019, the artist received a Distinguished Fellowship from the Fulton County Arts Council in Atlanta, Georgia.

Sources: http://monaleisa.com/