The daughter of an artist and a scientist, Niraja Cheryl Lorenz began weaving as a teenager.
Niraja Cheryl Lorenz was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1953. After high school, with a table loom and a foot locker of yarn, she explored the U.S. in her VW van visiting national parks and wilderness areas. Later she studied biology and earned a PhD in Human Experimental Psychology from Cornell University. She began quilting in 1995 and first studied with Nancy Crow in 2007. After twenty years as a research psychologist she is now a full-time artist. Lorenz’s quilts have been shown throughout North America, as well as internationally. She has won numerous awards including Best of Show, Design Excellence, and Creative Artistry.