A longtime Indiana native with a 45 year career as a ceramicist, Leanne relocated to Eugene, OR in 2019. Her clay sculpture, known for its playful use of vibrant color and organic shapes, now informs her current work which has evolved from shaping clay to reshaping vegetation, creating mixed-media botanical collage.
An avid gardener with a keen interest in plant breeding, propagation, and botanical illustration, she creates new narratives about the universe, self and relationships by exploring the fantastical possibilities of unlikely plant combinations. First drying and pressing gathered flora, then dissecting and grafting, she makes striking hybrids and adheres them to handmade paper on wood. The addition of a protective finish, paint, ink and cold wax, emphasizes, enlivens and animates the texture and color of the composition. The finished piece a tribute to the fragility, strength and beauty of the natural world.
In her previous incarnation, she apprenticed under professional potter Carolyn Mullet and has a BS in Art from Ball State University. She taught in her home studio and public schools as well as the Indianapolis Art Center. She participated in numerous group shows, exhibited in galleries throughout the Midwest. Her work was selected for the Kinsey Institute collection at Indiana University and the collection at Goshen College, IN.
She is the recipient of an Individual Artist Grant from the Indiana Arts Commission.
Recent Press:
Hyperallergic “A View From The Easel During Times of Quarantine “
July 10, 2020
