LEAH KAPLAN

RESIDENCY SHORTLISTED ARTISTS CRAFTS

2026

“I am largely self-taught. I signed up for my first pottery class at age 23. I took to clay immediately and viscerally. Ceramics became a private passion — for nearly 30 years. I enrolled in courses and the occasional workshop, while I worked as a government bureaucrat, a writer and a director of a nonprofit supporting artisans, among other jobs. I raised three kids. Some years my pottery tools remained untouched. At 50, I became an Associate at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia, sharing space with 25 other ceramicists and gaining 24-7 access to kilns, glazes and equipment. I often worked through the night in order to “find” time and solitude. Seven years ago, I finally set up my own studio, leaning into experimentation and curiosity. As a late bloomer, I have stored up a lifetime of inspiration and experiences, all of which I bring to bear in my art “

“About 10 years ago, I started working exclusively in porcelain, captivated by its translucency, whiteness and smoothness. That obsession sent me down a path where materiality became everything. I gradually dispensed with glazes and equipment, leaning into age-old techniques like coiling, slabs and pinching. The more I narrowed my practice, the richer it became. I explore questions and challenges I pose to myself: how do I make the inside of a vessel as interesting as the outside? How thin and translucent can I get my work? How do I infuse an object with a sense of motion and fluidity? And when I stumble upon a satisfying resolution, it is addictive is the best way possible.”