Studio Visit: Erin Riley

Recently, I had the pleasure of visiting the studio space of Erin Riley, an amazing tapestry weaver. Using a traditional medium she creates dynamic contemporary tapestries inspired by personal experiences and real-life observations.

Erin and I met three years ago in grad school where she was pursuing her masters in fibers. Soon after that initial meeting, I visited her graduate studio space and also spent some time chatting with her when I was taking a fibers class where she was a teaching assistant. Since then we've graduated but after running into her at the local Whole Foods last month I wanted to catch up and see what she's been working on.

After a quick tour of her shared studio space adorned with brightly colored yarn and large scale sketches, we sat down to talk about her process and inspiration.


So we met in grad school, but I don't know too much about what you were up to before your graduate years. Tell me a bit about your undergraduate experience.
I attended the Massachusetts College of Art and Design where I was initially a painting major. There I discovered fiber arts, took a course and fell in love. I was intrigued by the hard work, commitment and time it took to create one tapestry. It was then I decided this is what I wanted to do. [[read on and see more photos here]]