Lisa Sorrell’s dedication to learning the craft of bootmaking and her flair for design has established her as a master bootmaker. Her work offers fresh ways to examine the art of the cowboy boot within the context of heritage and tradition. She creates dialog through interplay of color, texture and technique, preserving tradition and keeping consistent with pioneers of the craft by interpreting vintage designs in contemporary and modern ways.
She was raised in southwest Missouri in a conservative little church where the women all wore long hair and long dresses. Her mother began teaching her to sew when she was 12 and by age 15 she was making dresses for ladies in her church. She married in 1990 and moved to Oklahoma, where she answered an ad in the local newspaper looking for someone to “stitch boot tops.” Although she had absolutely no idea what that meant at the time, within a few weeks of discovering the craft of cowboy boot making, she realized she’d found her calling.
Lisa has won many awards for her work at competitions throughout the United States, as well as Germany and the Netherlands. In 2011 she was a featured artist on the PBS series “Craft in America.” She’s been featured in multiple magazines, from “Cowboys and Indians” to “American Craft,” and her work is in Tyler Beard’s books “The Art of the Boot” and “Cowboy Boots,” and Jennifer June’s book “Cowboy Boots: The Art and Sole.” She’s also the author of the first book ever written that documents the way art is traditionally created on cowboy boot tops. “The Art of Leather Inlay and Overlay” is published by Schiffer Publishing and was released in June of 2016.