Rio Wrenn
Rio Wrenn
Textile Artist
Rio studied sculpture at the University of Washington and graduated in 2002. In the last year of her education she discovered rust printing and has been exploring, developing techniques, and exhibiting her textiles ever since. In 2009, Rio started RAW Textiles as a means to develop her textiles for fashion. Currently, Rio lives in her native home of Portland and has started
teaching and collaboration with designers across the country. The bulk of Rio’s work is created by using silks and ancient techniques such as shibori in combination with plants, insects and rust. Many of the plants she uses are harvested from her garden and other local gardens. The relationship between the plant growth cycle and the bees and birds that feed from them are a wonderful eco system that thrives and, in the end, helps to facilitate the language that Rio will then translate into abstract beauty.