LeBrie Rich has been exploring the visual possibilities and emotional resonance of felted wool since 2004. She is best known for updating the traditional crafts of felting and embroidery by creating highly detailed soft-sculptural replicas of familiar packaged food items, such as Jif peanut butter and Spam. Venues that have shown her work include the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Project Space in New York, NY; Portland Art Museum and Blackfish Gallery in Portland, OR; and Albus Gallery in Fukuoka, Japan. She has been awarded artist residencies at the Rauschenberg Residency (2013, 2015), Ucross Foundation (2018), and Kayamori House (2012) in the mountains outside of Nara, Japan.
Rich loves to teach people to access their creativity through felting. In 2021 she taught the art of felting to a total of 800 students from across the world, both through online and in-person classes. Her felt sculptures, collages, wearable fiber creations, and workshops for youth have been written about in the New York Times, Hand/Eye Magazine, Make, the Oregonian, and Portland Monthly.
Buy my Grocery exhibition catalog (in print or digital formats) here.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
2024 [upcoming] Cracker Dreams, Nine Gallery, Portland, OR
2019 Sugar Spin, Vernissage Fine Art, Portland, OR
2018 Grocery, Wolff Gallery, Portland, OR
Collages from Captiva, Luke's Frame Shop, Portland, OR
2017 Gift Shop, Ronna and Eric Hoffman Gallery at Lewis and Clark College, Portland, OR (collaborative installation)
2016 Collages and Mosaics, Pacific Pro Gallery, Astoria, OR
2015 Inklings: Collages and Mosaics, Blackfish Gallery, Portland, OR
2014 Doodles, Albus Gallery, Fukuoka, Japan (collaboration with Bill Will)
2013 Felt Masterworks, Lion Brand Yarn Studio, New York, NY
Collage, Fresh Pot, Portland, OR
2012 Band-Aid and TV Boat: Collages, Luke's Frame Shop, Portland, OR
2012 LeBrie Rich: Collage, Lille Boutique, Portland, OR
2012 Bloat, Harold Schnitzer Center for Northwest Art, Portland Art Museum (with Bill Will)
2011 Blank Slate, Nine Gallery, Portland, OR (collaboration with Bill Will)
2009 2009 - The Early Works, Nine Gallery, Portland, OR (collaborative two person show)
2007 New Economy, Nine Gallery, Portland, OR (collaborative installation with Bill Will)
JURIED & INVITATIONAL GROUP EXHIBITIONS, SELECTED:
2024 Off the Shelf , Pendleton Center for the Arts, Pendelton OR (4 person show, curated by me)
Captiva Civic Association, Rauschenberg Residency - Explorations & Experiments, Captiva, FL
2023 FELT: Fiber Transformed, Guilford Art Center, Guilford, CT
2020 Plays Well With Others, Alliance for the Arts, Fort Meyers, FL (invitational)
10x10x10xTieton, Mighty Tieton, Tieton, WA (juried)
2019 Trunk Show, Simon Breitbard Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA (invitational)
2017 Hold On Tight, Nine Gallery, Portland, OR (invitational)
The Toy Show, ANX Gallery, Portland, OR
Nasty Women, Eutectic Gallery, Portland, OR (invitational)
2014 6x6x2014, Rochester Contemporary Art Center, Rochester, NY
2013 Fruits of Captiva, Robert Rauschenberg Project Space, New York, NY (invitational)
LeBrie Rich & Laurie Vail, Guardino Gallery, Portland, OR
2012 Postcards from the Edge, RiverSea Gallery, Astoria, OR
Art Piece, Design Festa Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
The 100 Show, W+K Gallery, Portland, OR
2011 Fiber Show, Re:Vision Gallery, Portland, OR
2005 2 Year Anniversary Show, Backspace Gallery, Portland, OR
TEMPORARY COMMISSIONS, SELECTED:
2016 Duo, Portland, OR. Commission by the Little Free Gallery Project
2013 Mouse, Portland, OR. 4' x 4' collage for window storefront
Yarn Party, Portland, OR. Felted sculpture for a storefront window
2011 TV/Dinner, Portland, OR. Felted sculpture for a storefront window
Masterworks, Portland, OR. Felted sculpture for a storefront window
2008 - 2012 Thanksgiving, Portland, OR. Window storefront design of felted sculpture, added to and remixed each year.
2008 Spring Trees, Salt Lake City, UT. Mixed-media sculpture for a storefront window
PERMANENT COLLECTIONS & PUBLIC ARTWORKS:
Oregon State Hospital Collected Stories (permanent bronze lobby sculpture)
Oregon State Hospital Tile Interruptions (patient-created mosiacs installed throughout their facility)
King County Public Art Collections, WA (portable collection)
ARTIST RESIDENCIES:
2018 Ucross Foundation Residency, Sheridan, WY
2015 Rauschenberg Residency, Captiva, FL
2013 Rauschenberg Residency, Captiva, FL
2012 Kayamori House Residency, Nara, Japan
BIBLIOGRAPHY, SELECTED:
2023 “Food for Thought” Handwerken Magazine
2022 “Portland artist’s felted sculptures look so good you’ll want to eat them” OPB Art Beat
“FELT: Fiber Transformed” Fiber Art Now Magazine
2021 “The Chef’s Kiss Edition” Rusty’s Electric Dreams
“I Saw This and I Felt Something” The Backpack Show
2020 “LeBrie Rich maakt een statement met haar nostalgie in vilt” Textiel Plus
“Om op te eten!” Handwerken Magazine
2018 “LeBrie Rich: Grocery” by Linda Tesner Exhibition Catalog
"Who Knew Jif Could Make Such Compelling Art?” Portland Monthly
"20 Can't-Miss Portland Shows in Fall 2018" Portland Monthly
"Beyond Sustenance" HAND/EYE Magazine by Zemula Barr
“Packaging Portraits” Uppercase Magazine
Art Focus, radio interview with Amanda Clem, KBOO radio
2019 “This is Not a Box of Chocolates” Boing Boing
2018 “Fine Felt Artists You Should Know” Uppercase Magazine
2016 “Tee Vee at Sixty, Celebrating 60 years of Melbourne television” University of Melbourne, exhibition catalog by Derham Groves
2014 “Doodle Exhibition Report” Wooly Bilingual Culture Magazine
2011 "Felting Transforms Raw Material Into Art" The Associated Press
2010 “1000 Artisan Textiles” Quarry Books (pages 20, 21, 55, 69, 90, 93)
2008 "This Meal's Calories are Faux as Well," The Oregonian
"Heart-felt Ambitions" Make it Mine Magazine (pages 12-15)
2007 “Felted Jewelry: 20 Stylish Designs to Wear” Lark Books (page 44)
"Where the Crafts Babes and D.I.Y. Dudes Are" The New York Times
TEACHING:
2007-present Workshop instructor in feltmaking and fiber arts at colleges, fiber festivals and studios
2008-present Teen/youth handcraft workshop development and instruction at public libraries across Oregon and Washington
2008-2010 Artist business development
ETC:
2017 Felt puppet creation and materials consultant, Bent Image Lab
2015 Felt puppet creation and materials consultant, Bent Image Lab
2013 Prototype creation and materials consultant, Nike
2011 Prototype creation and materials consultant, Nike
2011-2012 Hand felting demonstration, Museum of Contemporary Craft
2007-2010 Guest speaker for production design class, Oregon College of Art and Craft
2006-2015 Contributing artist to Art-o-Mat art vending machines at various locations including Whitney Museum of American Art.
2004-2018 Designer and producer of a line of hand-made felted wearables and objects under the label PenFelt.
2001-2002 Artist assistant to Mary Beth Llorens. Fabricated large-scale commission mosaics.