About Syslee

Raised in rural Southern Oregon, Rawlinson’s work is influenced by her childhood  explorations of the river bank and woods beyond her backyard. As an adult, yearning for the harmony she found in nature, she began experimenting with clay plaster to animate the walls of her living space. Rawlinson fell in love with the subtle texture and luminescence of this natural product. With leftover material she began to work on canvas, marrying natural materials with the clay to create wondrous patterns – celebrating the natural world. 

Rawlinson reminds the viewer of the essentialness of slowing down in order to see. Walking through the woods she stumbles upon the dry, cracked earth of a former pond, animal tracks and plant material embedded and imprinted here. Her work speaks to these effects of time, weather and season on nature – to the impermanence of living things, to the delicate balance of the earth and to the beauty in decay. Each piece holds treasures, inviting the viewer to look closely, reigniting the childhood wonder of discovering something for the first time.

A mixed media and natural/found material artist, Rawlinson incorporates materials including clay, snake shed, natural pigments, dried plants and mica into her work. She resides in Oakland, California with her husband, Taiyo and her children, Leo and Van. Her days are spent, in her home studio and garden, practicing and refining her craft.

“I am drawn to imperfectly beautiful landscapes. Evoking the fragility and the complexity of the earth’s ecosystems – I look to reflect a moment gifted to us by nature. As a self-taught artist, curious about integrating varied materials into my work, I experiment with objects collected at estate sales and foraged in Oregon and California.

I observe how material in nature, layered over time, creates rich compositions. Considering the texture of a tree’s bark, the pattern of a snake’s shed, the trace left by water running through sand, I am inspired to use media in a way that honors earth’s delicate designs.

Formerly working as a Wild Foods Chef and Western Herbalist I was led deep into nature, foraging for the ingredients that would become medicines and creative culinary dishes. As I spent time outdoors my mind began to quiet, I started to be able to truly see and feel the treasures of the natural world – an intimate knowing. Returning to the city, I had an overwhelming urge to create work that shares the wonder and awe that I experience in these places.”

— Syslee Rawlinson