LEIGH OVIATT
ARTIST STATEMENT
Through bold color, tactile materials, and experimental weaving techniques, Leigh Oviatt explores the possibilities of contemporary fiber art from her Santa Fe studio. Her practice is evolving from traditional wall-hanging tapestries to large-scale fiber installations that transform and activate physical spaces.
Inspired by organic shapes, the natural environment, travel, and the rhythm of the handmade process, her work combines rich textures and vibrant color through intuitive exploration. Each hand woven piece invites viewers into a tactile world where traditional craft meets modern expression. Her soft, handmade work is created in a state of flow and meditation, offering a tactile experience that contrasts the speed and digital nature of contemporary life.
For Leigh, weaving is both a nurturing creative practice and a way to build community. Through hands-on workshops, she creates opportunities for people to connect, learn, experiment, and experience the meditative qualities of working with fiber. Her teaching practice reflects her belief that weaving can foster connection, creativity, and community.
BIO
Leigh is a multidisciplinary artist and educator currently immersed in weaving and fiber art. She grew up on a cattle ranch in Bozeman, Montana, spending her early years exploring the outdoors within a family of artists, cowboys, and educators. After more than 25 years in the rugged Pacific Northwest, she relocated to the gorgeous wide-open landscapes of New Mexico in 2018.
Throughout her life, Leigh has explored a wide range of creative practices including weaving, painting, jewelry fabrication, darkroom and street photography, film production, and set design. Her entrepreneurial spirit has been a parallel creative path, leading her to found a successful landscape design and build company with an accompanying cactus and succulent nursery in Oregon, and later to open an integrative wellness center that housed the first float tank on the Oregon coast.
Leigh has exhibited her photography and fiber art in galleries and shows across Washington, Oregon, Texas, California, and New Mexico. She was selected as a Harwood Art Center SURFACE: Emerging Artist of New Mexico in 2023, and received an Artist Inc. Fellowship in 2025. She is currently working towards her bachelor’s degree in Art Education at the University of New Mexico. She lives and works in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where her days are spent studying, making art, tending plants, and wandering the high desert with her sweet rescue animals.