Meet Leigh Harney | Ceramic Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Leigh Harney and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Leigh, why did you pursue a creative career?
Why did you pursue an artistic or creative career?Deep down I’m a person that has to create. Whether I’m painting, crafting, or coding, my spirit thrives on the joy of pushing boundaries and bringing something fresh into the world. I can’t remember a point in my life where I wasn’t creating something, but when I started taking ceramic classes 5 years ago it was like everything just “clicked.” Of course I was terrible at the start, but here was a medium with so many potential opportunities to learn and grow! I was immediately captivated and wouldn’t stop.

Where is my name from…My handle “Puddles Pottery” is a homage to my grandmother. She was one of the most incredible and inspirational women I’ve ever had the chance to meet or learn about. One of the original female factory workers in WWII, a motorcycle stunt driver, a foster parent, an animal lover, an advocate for individuals with disabilities, and a successful woman farmer… she always had inspirational stories for me when I was a child, but she also always reminded me to “never stop jumping in puddles.” No matter what was going on, she always would remind me to never stop loving myself and enjoying life. So, here I am – an adult playing in mud and jumping in puddles.

Risk taking: how do you think about risk, what role has taking risks played in your life/career? I’m an extremely risk averse person and ceramics requires a lot of upfront investment for materials and resources. I spent my first several years in ceramics taking classes at the Arvada Center for Arts and Humanities so I could learn a ton of techniques and styles before settling on some of the ones I knew I’d prefer to do long-term.

Most important factor behind the success of your brand…Honestly, I am so fortunate to be surrounded by the incredibly supportive ceramics community. During the 2020 lockdowns, I made so many pen-pal friends through Instagram and I truly felt the support as ceramic artists stepped up to support and encourage one another. I also must give a massive shout out to some Denver Local professionals – Hammerly Ceramics, John Hamilton III, and Liz Cohen Ceramics for opening their studio doors to all of us clay-covered hustlers and dreamers. Without their open door and open book mentality so many of us would have given up early on. (Especially with the learning curves and resource constraints in ceramics!)

Work life balance…Isn’t there a saying that all millennials don’t know how to have hobbies anymore? That we all turn out hobbies into side hustles? Well, that’s me for sure. I turn all hobbies into side hustles and am super competitive with myself. It makes me happy, but I guess it’s up to you to decide where the work-life balance is for the millennial generation.

What’s the most difficult decision you’ve had to make?Honestly, shipping and online sales. I always lose money and sanity when I have to ship work. I think art should be attainable to people in any income bracket, but shipping fragile items can be a nightmare. I don’t feel right making restrictions around shipping, so I closed down my online shops and only ship on request.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
What I love most about my art is my focus on fun. So many ceramic artists focus on making everything beautiful, but I take a lot of inspiration from the world around us and from Dungeons and Dragons. You’re more likely to see a beholder or a scene of two children imagining themselves chasing a dragon than flowers and I LOVE THAT. I want my brand to tell stories of imagination and fun to remind the audience never to grow up. I’d like to imagine they bring inspiration and hope to someone as they start their day with morning coffee.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I always take friends to Old Town Arvada! There are so many cute shops and restaurants there. Plus there’s a Little Free Art Library I like to drop art supplies and small dishes into.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Curt Hammerly – Owner and Artist at Hammerly Ceramics John Hamilton III – Instructor at Arvada Center for Arts and Humanities and Program Director at Art Students League of Denver
Heidi Meissner – Instructor at Arvada Center for Arts and Humanities
My loving partner – for tolerating clay dust on EVERYTHING in our house and cars… even our dogs

Website: http://PuddlesPottery.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/puddlespottery/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/puddlespottery/

Other: Discord – PuddlesPottery

Image Credits
images in email because they didn’t load well here and I couldn’t tell if any worked.