Leisa Rich (Gananoque, ON)
Let’s Hear It For The Girls, 2022. Recycled clothing, fabric, faux fur, beads, sewing. Multiple dimensions.
Bio
Leisa Rich calls herself an “experimentalist.” Her art practice began serendipitously in the mid 1970’s in a weaving class, which led her to change her career path from music and dance to a lifelong, passionate commitment to creating and teaching fiber art. In art, as in life, Leisa has been fearless: in both technique and materials, she uses old things in new ways, and new things in ways for which they were not intended. Her works can include the techniques of free motion embroidery, dyeing, painting, melting, sculpting, heat transfer, hand embroidery, 3D printing, laser cutting/engraving, and more, and use a plethora of materials such as Fosshape®, resin, recycled clothing, plastics, plaster, among others.
Rich invents visual realities that are sometimes touchable, and often viewer interactive. Her pseudo-Utopian environments suspend reality for a moment, and titillate, envelop, and include viewers; it is a seductive world of hyper-real color, texture, and tactility. Her work is sometimes conceptually informed by medical challenges she has experienced, socio-political concerns, a quest for change, and most importantly, a passion to intimate nature to draw attention to it in a unique way.
Rich has Master of Fine Arts, Bachelor of Fine Arts, and Bachelor of Education in Art degrees, and has exhibited in notable museums and galleries. She is a published author and has taught art for 47 years.
In 2020, after decades living in the U.S. and abroad, Leisa permanently returned to her home country, Canada, to a 96-year-old farmhouse on Howe Island, Ontario, on the St. Lawrence River that she and her husband bought, sight unseen.
Since returning to Canada, Rich has shown works in DesignTO, The Art Gallery of Mississauga, and had a solo show in spring of 2022 at MAK Gallery.
Rich’s works are in the permanent collections of Delta Airlines Inc., Hilton Hotels, Emory Healthcare/Women’s Health, Kamm Foundation, Dallas Museum of Art, University of Texas, University of North Texas, The Works: Atlanta, and international private collections.