About
Jess Riehl makes art in Tigard, Oregon. She works in collage, mail art, photography, and zines — drawn to color, line, and the particular life of abandoned things: old envelopes, forgotten stamp collections, objects that belonged to someone once and ended up in a thrift store.
She picked up a camera at eight years old and spent her high school years photographing for The Recorder in Monterey, Virginia. That early attention to the world stayed with her through a career that has moved through the Navy, documentary photography, family portraiture, visual facilitation, teaching elementary students to make art, and eventually back to the studio. Her photographs have been published in newspapers and magazines, and she held a fellowship through the Institutes for Journalism and Natural Resources. She documented Great Camp Sagamore in the Adirondacks and traveled to Chile as an assistant to photographer Bridget Besaw on an ecotourism documentary project. She holds an MFA in Collaborative Design from Pacific Northwest College of Art.
Collage found her in 2021. Mail art found her in 2025. Her studio is a Wunderkammer.
She is a member of the Portland Correspondence Co-Op and the Special Agent Collage Collective. She is currently finding her way back to portraiture and the small handmade book.
The Name
The name “Delighted by Rainbows” emerged from a moment of unexpected joy; sunlight streaming through a cocktail glass, casting rainbows that my friend declared “so delightful.” That serendipitous moment captures my approach to art: it’s found more than made, discovered rather than predetermined, and arrives from the side when you’re paying attention to the world around you. My art is born from exploration and discovery. The journey and process is where the magic happens.
Artistic Statement
I make art. I love exploring methods, materials, and form — color, line, and shape are the elements I keep returning to. My studio is a Wunderkammer: full of rocks, shells, typewriters, old cameras, abandoned stamp collections, vintage air mail envelopes, and things rescued from thrift stores and forgotten places. I work in collage, mail art, photography, zines, abstract painting, found poetry, and rubber stamps. I make things to send. I make things to keep. I make things to understand what I’m noticing. I delight in the process of discovery and let curiosity lead the way. Art is essential to my well-being. It connects me to the world beyond my studio, lifts my spirit, and calls me home to myself.
