Photo courtesy of Leisa Crossley
Potter Leisa Crossley.
Leisa Crossley is a locally-based potter who will be participating in this year’s Art in the Lot event at Trinity United Methodist Church on May 3. In this interview, she shares how she got started working as a potter and how her family inspires her artistry.
Q: What medium do you work in?
A: My favorite medium would be stoneware. There's earthenware, stoneware and porcelain, among other things, but, in our area, that's pretty much the clay you get. And we're fortunate here in Birmingham to have the opportunity to get our clays locally, purchase clay locally, from wonderful retailers here in the area. And so, I don't have to have anything shipped to me. I can just pick it up.
And stoneware is very versatile in that I can use it with a multitude of glazes and finishes, and I love the colors and the texture, and that's what excites me about it and I love everything about it.
Nothing is lost with clay. You make something, if it doesn't work, you can generally turn it into something else or it just morphs, and I just love that about it.
Photo courtesy of Leisa Crossley
Stoneware by Leisa Crossley.
Q: What or who influences your art?
A: Who has influenced my work? There are other potters around the world, because of the digital world we live in, that I've seen and I really admire, but I think the most of my influence comes from family.
And, not that they were potters, but my grandmother, I stood beside my grandmother as a child and watched her sew, and my mother, her intricate hand sewing, and that's where I learned about texture and color and what went together and what worked and what didn't work and I didn't know some so many years later it would turn into something that that I would enjoy, like pottery, when I found pottery four years ago.
After two bouts with cancer, I decided I was gonna do something I really wanted to do and I'd always wanted to do it. And so, I was just amazed at the similarities that transferred for me from fabric, from those huge quilt squares that dropped from the ceiling at my grandmother's house and I watched those ladies work around and create color and texture through fabric. And so, that's, I think, that's probably the greatest influence for me in this work.
Q: When did you first discover you had a talent for this?
A: I think I mentioned already that it was about a little over four years ago when I went to my first class, and it may have
Courtesy of Leisa Crossley
Logo for A Bit of Honey studio, owned by potter Leisa Crossley.
been the second or third class that I came home and said to my husband, "I believe I'm gonna need a studio." And he said, "I knew that was gonna happen." So, I just fell in love. It's the most fun I've ever had in my life.
Q: Where can people see your work?
A: My home studio sits at the base of the Appalachian Mountains at the end of South Shades Crest Road. I have a gallery room where I'm sitting right now, and you can come in and shop the gallery room by appointment.
Courtesy of Leisa Crossley
Business Card for A Bit of Honey Studio, owned by potter Leisa Crossley.
You can also find some of my work on Facebook [...] and on Instagram, and my studio is A Bit of Honey Artisanal
Pottery.
Q: What’s something interesting about you that people might not know?
A: I like to write a little bit and I like — I would call it more storytelling — I like to tell my grandchildren stories of the things that happened to us as children; how we grew up, our lifestyle, our faith, the things that we experienced growing up — it's so very different than their lives today. And, I write this blog and keep it going for them to see, andsome of my pottery is on there too from time to time, but it's for the kids.
