Collection: Leah Reynolds

My work can be categorized as installation while also including aspects of painting and sculpture.  It is meant to be experienced in relation to the whole body.  My installations often seem like theatre sets where the viewers become the players.  I prefer to work with a specific place in mind because the particular characteristics of the site will necessarily affect the completed installation- almost like having a collaborator.

Thirty years ago I was most interested in placing art in public places where it could be encountered by anyone.  At the time I was using fabric in mixed media constructions.  I was also working for a shelter for battered women and their children.  These things led me to begin thinking about the concept of “shelter”; and the idea of making places rather than isolated objects.  I was drawn to using fabric because of its various uses; for protection, disguise, decoration, etc., as well as its association with women’s work.

I now work primarily with cheesecloth coated with rabbit skin glue and pigment.   (The resulting material is translucent, so light plays an important role in the final installation.)  I sew everything together by hand, further referencing the history of women’s handwork - from darning, quilt-making and hooked rugs, to needlework samplers and silk embroidery. 

My most current work is concerned with the growth and proliferation of forms over time.  As my studio practice has always been very process-oriented, I am now including the documentation of this process to make the work more performative.