Araina Leatherock is a visual artist from OKC who currently resides in North Texas. She graduated with her BFA in Painting in Spring 2020 from the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma. Her body of BFA work used experimental media such as photographic performance and sculptural collage to portray themes of consumer comforts, nostalgia, synesthesia, and the digital age.

Her current work constructs surreal, playful scenes that engage the viewer’s imagination with immersive detail. She especially enjoys manipulating perspective and scale to focus on a single subject within a larger world that stretches beyond the frame. These illustrations aim to recapture a sense of childlike awe towards delightful strangeness and mystery.

In her early post-graduate years, Araina was deeply involved in the local art community of Oklahoma City. She worked as a Visitor Experience Lead at Oklahoma Contemporary from 2020 to 2023, and she was also an active member of the local artist collective Art Group OKC. She sold her work at Factory Obscura art markets and exhibited work at the Paseo, Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition, The Art Hall, and Oklahoma Contemporary. She began her career as a muralist during this period, and she installed her first few public murals at a local Volkswagen dealership as well as at Edmond Fine Arts Center for Sunny Dayz Mural Festival.

Araina moved to North Texas in early 2023, and she currently works as a Creative Operator at Meow Wolf: The Real Unreal. Her immediate goals are to continue developing her personal illustration style and to expand her portfolio of large-scale mural work.