I’ve been working with textiles for as long as I can remember.  I must have been in first grade when I learned to make hook latch rugs and cross-stitch patterns on doilies.  Within a year my mother had taught me how to crochet and a few months after that to knit. If I had a dime for every stitch I dropped I’d be a wealthy woman today. 

By the end of  junior high I had graduated to ropes, cords, and macramé.  I made pot hangers, wall hangings, and eventually free form free standing sculptures.  During the years I spent working with rope I learned to work with wood and with wire.  Much to my delight I sold every thing that I made.  Before too long every Dr.’s office and professional building in the tri-county area was sportin’ one of my creations.

My first year of college put me on another path and I left my youthful tinkering behind.  I had no way of knowing that it would be years before I would return to the creative endeavors I loved so much.

I found my way back to my roots in textiles through what I like to call, “the haunting”.  Over a span of about a year I became increasingly obsessed with visions of pieces I had never seen before.  Night after night I had dreams of  people using their faces to push through a veil of leather.  Each successive night the faces became more and more desperate to tell their stories. Over time these images began to creep into my daydreams and finally into my conscience thoughts.  Eventually they were all I could think about.
So I set upon a quest to find a way to turn the images in my mind into tangible substance.

I went to New York where I studied under a master comedic mask maker.  I went back to New York and studied with a group of very gifted body casters.  I have spent untold hours of trial and exploration to find and develop a process that works for me. I have adopted and still use many of the tricks and techniques commonly practiced by industry professionals. However I find that my overall process is very different from what I was taught and as a result gives birth to a very unconventional product.

So here we are today, years later and I am still in love with the process.  I still work full time as an artist. And yes, I am still obsessed with leather, with  faces, and with the endless stories that they tell. 

I am happy, fulfilled, and grateful for the life I live today.  My fondest wish is to continue down this path of discovery and to share all of my findings with you.

Live well,

Rayna