My Senior Work
March 16, 2010
Hello! My name is Elyssa, and I work with leather. I’ve recently finished my Senior Thesis show, the culmination of my four years at art school. I truly love working with leather and suede, and all of my work is hand-sewn. Here are some images:
This is a piece called “Quiver”. It is a plush leather object, with cat’s whiskers. [I DID NOT pull them out of my cat's face! I collected them off of my carpet for months.] The gold drops were caused by repeatedly dipping the ends of the whiskers in gold enamel. It was given its name because when the viewer came close to examine it, his or her breath would cause the whiskers to quiver.
This piece is called “The Judge”. It sat high up on a shelf, and upon examination the viewer notices his reflection tucked into a fold
This piece is “Cornucopia”. It is a wrinkled, crevice-covered, plush leather object in a sort-of shell shape. Exploding from the interior is a plethora of golden spirals, which were made from cigarette foil.
This piece is called “Pins & Needles”. Its made from black suede, sewn and stuffed, and all the bright ‘stitching’ you can see is actually pins going transdermally from the inside of the piece to the outside, where they can be seen, and back inside again.
A work portion of my work also consisted of felting, dreading and yarning hair. I shaved my head for the raw material, so all of the black/very dark hair in the following works was my own. I also took donations when my friends had haircuts.
These two photos show the “Net”, which I made by dry-felting loops of my own hair, and connecting them in a European 4-in-1 chainmail pattern. In the gallery it hung loosely stretched across a corner. The process I use to create this and all of my other hairwork involves nothing but friction, and sometimes hot soapy water. No glue, no wax, no tools other than my hands.
Here are a few small “gestures”, which were either mounted with pins, or set under glass, and framed. 
This piece is called “A&E”. It is framed under glass. For this piece I used my best friend Alexandra’s hair as well as my own.
Do you like what you see? Would you like to own one of these pieces? Would you like me to make you a framed work from your own or your loved one’s hair? Then drop me a line: ehaesche@gmail.com
