Opening Thursday Oct. 11, Piedmont’s Mason-Scharfenstein art museum showcases the work of Atlanta artist Leisa Rich in her solo exhibition “A Glorious Requiem for Beasts and Souls.”

Rich describes herself as an “art archeologist and experimentalist,” and has used a variety of unconventional materials and techniques including 3D printing to create interactive, tactile sculptures and installations. In one of her signature techniques, she uses a sewing machine to paint with thread, a method she calls “free-motion stitching.”

During a childhood trip to Disneyland after an extended hospitalization, where Rich was treated for deafness, she went on the “It’s a Small World” ride with her parents. She says the experience was a huge influence on her work.

“These figures and flowers and manufactured nature…really struck me,” Rich said. “In many ways I’m trying to recreate that space.”

In “A Glorious Requiem for Beasts and Souls,” Rich’s conceptual collages of fabric, dyes, acrylic, paper, and heat-transferred photography invite the viewer in to fantastical menageries of plant and animal life among shadowy, colorfully fabricated realms.

“I don’t know many people who aren’t changed, who don’t become happier when they are surrounded by color.”

“A Glorious Requiem for Beasts and Souls” will be on display at the Mason-Scharfenstein Museum through November 8.