Leisa Rich is an artist working in conceptual 2D, sculpture and installation format, using thread, fabrics and mixed media as her primary materials and free motion stitching - “machine embroidery” - as her favored technical method of creating. Illnesses have been the main motivators in her life-long passion for all things fiber, and the impact of human behavior on nature the catalyst for much of her subject matter. As a baby, Leisa had a satin-trimmed blanket; the only way she could fall asleep was by working her fingers from one end to the other. At age three and four, while in the hospital for deafness, her mother made clothes for her Barbie. One particular dress, made of a fiery red satin and lace, triggered an infatuation with all things tactile. At age 15, while attending Interlochen Arts Academy for piano and dance, Leisa developed thyroid complications from Mononeucleosis, causing weight gain and getting kicked out of the dance department until she lost the weight. A friend suggested she take weaving which Leisa LOVED and she then switched her major to art. Later on, two major brushes with death- a car wreck, paralysis and the resulting back reconstruction, and being swept down a mountain in a torrential rainstorm in Indonesia as the mountain crumbled away beside her- cemented a passion for the preciousness of life and Leisa determined to live every day with passion, with vitality, to grab life by the horns and live every day as if it was her last. In addition, growing up in Canada surrounded by lovely, wide-open spaces--the land mass of Canada exceeds the United States’, yet it has less population than the state of California--fabulous lakes, mountains and a very low human population Leisa feels most at peace in the natural world. Leisa spent her childhood communing with nature; ice-skating outdoors on natural creeks and days spent alone sifting the sand on the beach of Lake Huron in quest of a perfect fossil or wandering the massive lake ice caverns in winter. These surroundings inspire the artworks and installations Leisa makes. Recent work has involved the continuous exploration and development of the ways which man-made materials can be formed into art that references that nature or natural systems and how, when Leisa magnifies these human-made “systems”, they form a new reality. This attempt is in response to her dissatisfaction with the impact of human behavior on the natural world. Leisa is seeking to create a unique world of her own design, made from that she shuns and that she embraces. In her 3 dimensional and installation works, Leisa addresses 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. Leisa transforms those simple, ordinary objects into extraordinary environments in order to give them greater significance. Using the power of scale—from miniscule to gargantuan—she portrays and brings to notice an important essence she sees. The 2 dimensional, Neo-Surrealist pieces Leisa creates interject personal storytelling into a broad visual commentary on that dysfunctional society. Her 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. Leisa wants that element of hidden surprise (“that’s done with THREAD?!) to grab, so that viewers are drawn in to her visual story. A selection of Leisa’s recent works have invited humans back into her world. They are completely participatory and viewer interactive. Movable elements that viewers can take off/add on open up visual dialogue, creating new stories each time the components are rearranged. Leisa just completed a completely human interactive, permanent installation for the Dallas Museum of Art, installed in November, 2011.