TRISHA BLAIR, leather artist

My journey into art goes back to my youth. I matured in an unincorporated small town in the northern Black Hills and my teacher leaned toward art, so I was encouraged.

Much later in life, my paintings filled my “treasure room” and relatives had more than enough, so I taught myself how to make pine needle baskets. Then I added tooled leather bases to my pin needle creations. I took a how-to embossed leather class, which led to tooling leather pictures and other leather items. I’ve been creating embossed leather pictures for about six years.

Embossing leather has been around for awhile and is make a comeback. I begin with a sketch or drawing (unlike some who trace their object from a picture or photo). This original drawing is transferred to a flat piece of leather. Then leather tools and a surgeon’s scalpel are used to emphasize design and textures. Once satisfied, the leather is turned over and worked by pushing on certain areas to encourage the leather to become three dimensional (3-D). If eyes are involved in the picture, they too are a part of the flat leather and are embossed to look realistic. All of my pictures are entirely on one piece of flat leather. Embossing and tooling are time and labor intensive. It takes about 100 hours or more to complete a project.

My time is equally spent between pine needle creations and leather, which keep me out of mischief!

Contact Trisha at tblair@goldenwest.net, and visit Art Expressions Gallery and Gifts in Custer to view her work.