Where do you currently live/work
Live in Ossining NY, work at Clay Art Center in Port Chester, NY as Executive Director
What do you like most about your job? OR What do you like most about where you live?
What I like most about working at Clay Art Center is the community of artists and staff who are so passionate about clay, as well as the opportunity to see students and artists grow, right under my nose — and I love that I have something to do with that.
Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Baltimore, MD!
What was your childhood nickname?
Well, my family called me Leigh-Leigh
How did you first find out about NCECA?
I heard about NCECA from my undergraduate ceramics professor, Bob Palusky.
Tell me a story about your first conference (including city and/or year)
Bob encouraged us all to go and my first NCECA was in 1991, when it was in Philadelphia. I was a sophomore in college. I was blown away, especially by the Eastern European show that Jimmy Clark had curated for The Clay Studio. It made an impression. It is the only thing I remember from that first NCECA.
What’s your favorite color?
Green!
What or who inspired you to get involved more deeply in the organization, and what was your “entry point” to the board
I was asked twice before to join the board and each time I just didn’t have the time (each time I had either just had a baby or was about to have one). I was the Exhibitions Director at Baltimore Clayworks
Describe your position with NCECA
I am the Exhibitions Director, in charge of NCECA sponsored exhibitions and providing oversight for concurrent exhibitions.
What’s your favourite thing about being on the board?
Getting to sit around the table with the brightest minds in the field of ceramics.
What’s your favorite part of your specific position?
Being behind something that supports artists in a significant way. Being invited into or accepted into an NCECA sponsored exhibition is a big deal, thanks to the high quality and excellent reputation of past exhibitions. I also love forming exhibitions – it is like making art in a lot of ways.
Who are some of your mentors, and how have they shaped you as a person/artist? (both in and out of the organization/field)
Deb Bedwell – she took me under her arm when I was just out of grad school and brought me into Baltimore Clayworks. I started out teaching there, and soon joined the staff. She taught me how to be an arts administrator, and mentored me in many other ways.
Tell me about your work as an artist.
It is abstract organic sculpture – I use forms from nature as a metaphor for the many nuances of
human relationships.
What’s your favourite ice cream flavor?
Coffee almond fudge. Or Coconut
If you were a glaze, which one would you be and why?
Oh jeez. This is a hard one. I use all commercial glazes, happily, because then I don’t have to mix them. I can’t pick just one. It is the many range of textures, surfaces and colors that I have in my glaze palette that together define who I am as a person.
What are a few of your hobbies?
Knitting. Cooking.
Hey Leigh-
Didn’t realize you went to Kirkland (although it may have become Hamilton by then) In 1976, I taught there as Bob’s sabbatical replacement, my first paying gig out of graduate school. I assume Bob is retired by now. Lovely neck of the woods.