Alma Lesch (March 12, 1917 – May 15, 1999) was an American fiber artist known for her fiber portraits.^[1] She was "the undisputed grande dame of Kentucky textile arts."^[2] A historic marker notes her achievements in Shepherdsville, Kentucky where Lesch lived and had her studio.^[3] Lesch's quilt, Bathshebas Bedspread, was included in the Objects: USA exhibit in 1969, which was organized by S.C. Johnson and Son.^[4]

Lesch began her first quilt at the age of five, completing it seven years later.^[5] She graduated from Murray State University in 1941 and earned a master's degree in education from the University of Louisville in 1962.^[6]

Lesch taught at the Louisville School of Art and the University of Louisville.^[7] She also taught at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts and Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts.

Her style frequently used found objects, quilting of personal garments, and embroidery in her works.^[6] Her fiber portraits are fabric collages made from antique clothing, however they intentionally exclude the subject's face and limbs, allowing the viewer to imagine the subject.^[2] She pioneered this style of portrait in the 1960s, in which she arranged "clothing stitched on to a quilt as though they were positioned for a portrait."^[8] Although her contemporary, Marilyn Pappas, used a similar technique,^[9] Lesch's portraits are unique in that they touch on the themes of her life lived in Kentucky, including farming, social manners, and folk art.

Lesch influenced other artists such as Jane Burch Cochran. She was named a Master Craftsman by the World Craft Council in 1974 and a Fellow of the Kentucky Guild of Artists and Craftsmen in 1986. She won the Kentucky Governor's Award for Lifetime Contribution to Visual Arts in 1987.^[10]

• Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky, USA
• American Craft Museum, New York, NY, USA
• Flint Institute of Art, Flint, MI, USA
• Johnson Collection of Contemporary Crafts
• Evansville Museum of Art, Evansville, IN, USA
• Bridwell Art Library, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA
• Citizen's Bank, Glasgow, KY, USA

Owensboro Fine Art Museum, KY 'Lay of the Land: Kentucky Landscape' 1983 commission gifted from Meidinger Tower, Louisville KY

• Lesch, Alma Wallace (1961). A Resource Unit on Vegetable Dyeing for a High School Art Class (M. Ed. thesis). Louisville, KY: Ekstrom Library, University of Louisville. OCLC 41381086.
• Lesch, Alma (1962). The American textile industry and some of its products. Louisville, KY: University of Louisville. OCLC 7120995.
• Lesch, Alma (1970). Vegetable Dyeing: 151 Color Recipes for Dyeing Yarns and Fabrics with Natural Materials (1974 revised ed.). Newton Abbot: David and Charles. ISBN 978-0-71-536652-3. OCLC 16281792.

• George, Phyllis (1989). Kentucky crafts: Handmade and heartfelt. New York: Crown Publishers. ISBN 051757327X. OCLC 19323121.
• Johns, M. (2011). "Tenacious Threads: Crazy Quilts as an Expressive Medium for Making Art." Thesis, Georgia State University.
• Meloy, M. M. (1985). A Web of Kentucky thread. Fiberarts, vol. 12, p. 72.
• Ogden, A. B. (1997). Alma Wallace Lesch. American Craft, vol. 57, p. 82.
• Ramsey, B. (1993). Art and quilts: 1950–1970. Uncoverings, vol. 14, p. 9-40.
• Walcott, E Austen. "Alma Lesch Retrospective." Surface Design Journal. Vol. 22, (Fall 97).

• Bullitt Memories: Alma Wallace Lesch, A Remarkable Artist
• Profile at the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft
• Finding aid for Alma Lesch's papers at the University of Louisville's Margaret M. Bridwell Art Library