Leah Leitson is a studio potter and educator based in Asheville, North Carolina. She is Professor Emerita of Art at Warren Wilson College, where she taught for more than twenty years while maintaining an active studio practice.

Leitson earned a BFA in Ceramics from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University and an MFA in Ceramics from Louisiana State University. Her work has been shaped by residencies at the Archie Bray Foundation, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Guldagergaard International Ceramic Research Center, and Township10.

For more than thirty years, Leitson has drawn inspiration from the natural world, from the swamps of Baton Rouge to the Blue Ridge Mountains. Working primarily in porcelain, she combines wheel throwing, altering, and handbuilding with influences from 18th- and 19th- century decorative arts, particularly Rococo silver and Sèvres porcelain. These influences come together in functional ceramics that are elegant, whimsical, and visually engaging.

 

While my work is always changing, there are certain features my imagination returns to again and again: undulating lobes, fluid lines, smooth ridges, bulbous features, and precise, decorative finishing touches on feet, handles, lips, or spouts. I’m drawn toward the suggestion of excess where glazes might pool or a thrown form might be altered beyond expectation; but I’m likewise wedded to utilitarian forms that flawlessly function and inspire a moment of delight or enjoyment each time the cup is lifted, the pitcher poured, the plate served, the creamer chilled.