Visual artist. EXPERIMENTALIST.

art educator. published writer/illustrator.

MFA, BFA, and BED.

“Impactful experiences as a child that include deafness, riding the “It’s A Small World” ride at Disneyland at age 5, creating furniture pieces, crowns and jewelry at my dad’s electrical shop, and teddy bear teas under a weeping willow tree shaped my early creative life. A quest to draw the public in for a closer look led me to make intriguing, tactile pieces, instigate human interaction between viewers and I through touch, and installations that are hyper-Utopian, enveloping experiences.

A growing concern about the environment informs most of my recent works.

To bring these works to fruition, I use old materials and age-old fiber art/art techniques in new ways, and transform new materials in ways not originally intended. My preferred techniques include free motion stitching — otherwise known as machine embroidery, a method of "painting" and building texture with thread on a sewing machine — manipulating a fascinating material called Fosshape® and vintage textiles, and I also sew, dye, paint, burn, melt, hand embroider, 3D print, laser cut/engrave, cast, build and assemble.”

BIO:

Leisa Rich has Master of Fine Arts, Bachelor of Fine Arts, and Bachelor of Education in Art degrees, and has been teaching for 49 years in schools, arts centers, universities, and in her studio, across the U.S. & Canada. Her work is published in numerous books, magazines, on line, and televised interviews. She has also written national and international magazine reviews and articles. She has art works in the permanent collections of Delta Airlines Inc., Hilton Hotels Inc., Emory Healthcare and Women’s Health, The Kamm Foundation, The Dallas Museum of Art and more, and in private collections across the U.S., Canada, and the EU.

Leisa has published a children’s book she wrote and illustrated, Animal Alphabet, Traveling Twisters, available on Amazon.

and a series of How-To books: https://www.blurb.ca/b/9552452-fosshape

She is a recipient of many awards, most recently a 2022 Surface Design Association EIP award, and a 2019 Distinguished Fellowship, Fulton County Arts Council, Atlanta, Georgia.