Courtesy of Leisa Rich
The Textile Art of Leisa Rich
Numerous illnesses have been the muses in my passion for all things fiber, while the negative human impact on nature and unravelling human tactile connection are the catalysts for my subject matter.
As an infant I had a satin-trimmed blanket; the only way I could fall asleep was by working my fingers from one end to the other. At age four, while in the hospital for deafness, my mother made clothes for my Barbie and one particular dress, made of a fiery red satin and lace, provoked my tactile infatuation. At age 15, while attending Interlochen Arts Academy for piano and dance, I developed thyroid complications from mononeucleosis, causing weight gain. I was asked to leave the dance department until I lost the weight, but during that time off a friend suggested I take weaving. I loved it and switched my major to art. Thirty-six years later I'm still hooked!
Growing up in Canada surrounded by lovely, wide-open spaces, fabulous lakes, mountains and a very low human population, I feel most at peace in the natural world. I spent my childhood communing with nature: ice-skating outdoors on natural creeks, days spent alone sifting the sand on the beach of Lake Huron in search of a perfect fossil or wandering the massive lake ice caverns in winter.
As an artist working in conceptual and Neo-Surrealist two-dimension, sculptural and installation format using thread and free motion stitching, my recent work reflects the continuous exploration and development of the ways that man-made materials can be formed into art that reference nature or natural systems and how they form a new reality when I magnify these human-made “systems.” This attempt is in response to my dissatisfaction with the impact of human behavior on the natural world. I am seeking to create a unique world of my own design, a manufactured Utopia in which to hide.
In my three-dimensional and installation works, I address this by looking at items usually ignored: a small stone kicked aside while walking, a bit of broken glass, a fossil, a shard of twisted metal, a shell, leftover plastic, a microscopic cell. I like to transform those simple, ordinary objects into extraordinary environments in order to give them greater significance. Using the power of scale—from miniscule to gargantuan—I bring to notice an important essence.
The two-dimensional, Neo-Surrealist pieces I create interject personal storytelling into a broad visual commentary on dysfunctional society. My wall works at first glance might be likened to that of a painting - an initial impression of color and form -but the viewer is usually confused by a texture unlike that in painting and is then sucked in for a closer look. I want that element of hidden surprise (“that’s done with thread?!) to grab, so that viewers are drawn in to my visual story.
My recent works have invited humans back into my world. In an attempt to thrust them together to tactilely interact, I create pieces that are completely participatory. Movable elements that viewers can take off or add on open up visual dialogue, creating new stories each time the components are rearranged.
Leisa Rich holds a Master of Fine Arts and Bachelor of fine Arts degrees in Fibers, and a Bachelor of Education in Art. She teaches at arts centers, runs the after school art program at a private school in Atlanta and conduct workshops and arts events. She was featured on the PBS artist special “IN CONTEXT”; in the books “NOPLACENESS- Art in the Post-Urban Landscape” “Studio Quilt: No. 6” “Modern Sculpture”"Hand to Hand: 195 Artists Witness the Iraq War” “The Best of America Sculpture Artists and Artisans” and “Quilt National 2009” and She exhibits locally, nationally and internationally. She has am interactive and permanent installation commissioned for Dallas Museum of Art that opened in November 2011. To learn more about Leisa, please visit www.monaleisa.com.
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