About the Artist - RodKraft Studio

Rodney Kindlund has been a leather craftsman for over 28 years. After apprenticing part-time with a tack-maker, Rodney began handcrafting leather goods from his own studio in Central California in 1973. Self-taught in the art of hand tooling, the artist has continued to practice his art while creating objects from functional to aesthetic. His woodcarving interest began at a young age when he hand carved a civil war musket for a grammar school project. Until recently woodcarving has taken a back seat to his leather art.

Since moving to North Carolina in 1997, Rodney has organized his artistic talents into establishing a studio from his home in Alexander. Rodney creates his leather-art under the RodKraft Studio name for sale in local galleries and at art fairs in western North Carolina.

On April 1, 2001, Rodney became a member of the Southern Highland Handicraft Guild in Asheville, North Carolina as a leather artist. Each year the Guild exclusively juries new members from the nine southern and border States that lie within the Appalachian Mountains.

The artist’s work was on exhibit at the New Members Show at the Folk Art Center in Asheville during the summer of 2001. Rodney was one of six artists to display and sell work in the first annual Artist’s Way show at the Gothic Rose Studio and Gallery in downtown Asheville in December 2001. The artist also exhibited at a special year-long showing in 2002 at the Appalachian Regional Commission offices in Washington, DC. .