In 1987 Chris Chapman moved from Minnesota to the top of a mesa 700 feet above the Roaring Fork Valley, in the Mountains of Colorado, and knew she'd come home. "I feed the birds, watch the deer in my yard, and listen to the coyotes, fox, and bugling elk in the surrounding mountains and sage meadows." A leather craftsman for nearly 35 years, she has spent much time doing historical research and reproduction work dating back to 16th Century European leatherwork and clothing. Since 1974 she did museum quality reproductions of Native American and Early American garments and artifacts, including bead and quill work. It was the birth of her daughter in 1991 that inspired a change of direction into leather-bonded furniture and home accessories. Although she wasn't the first to apply leather to wooden frames, she's been able to bring a fresh perspective to the table. She says "Thought I have not come from a saddle making background, the years of fabricating historical items with pure historical techniques, combined with the previous years experience in leatherwork, the skills learned sewing since I was five, and my artistic nature and background, have all been of value. When I started to design and make furniture, everything I'd learned before came together."

For enormous armoires and tables, to mirrors, custom cabinetry and bars, in Chapman's furniture, the leather is molded and formed around shapes, rather than stretched around a form, then the surface is worked and tooled to bring out the detail. It is similar to repose metal work. "I find the medium incredibly versatile, not just Western. It can adapt to nearly any time period, style and design, from Victorian to Territorial Spanish, English, Art Deco; so far there is not much I haven't been able to do. I love experimenting with color, texture, patina, and leafing in copper and silver. Nature scenes and animals from realistic to European folk art, have been a particular fascination and challenge these past few years -- which also gets me outside and observing which is my balance and restoration."

Growing up in Minnesota and the oldest of six children, Chapman reflects "My art was the one thing I could claim as my own. Even as a child I would go to the woods, study animals and try to draw them. This work now seems to bring me back to myself, to nature, to the basics at times, and I think it has that same appeal to others."

Dreams and goals: "a few acres, a small ranch house and a couple horses outside of Livingston, MT., more time with my daughter and horses, to see my work in a grand public space in collaboration with some of the best artists I know. That should keep me busy for a few more years."