Photo by Arno Frugier
Meet the Artist
Leah Pollock
Leah Pollock is a sculptor, painter, and mixed media artist currently living in Bella Vista, Arkansas. She received her BA in Ceramics and BFA in Graphic Design from Truman State University in 2011. During her undergraduate study, she spent a year in Tokyo studying Japanese language, historical ceramics, traditional theater and architecture. She was a pupil of Koiichi Koyama, an accomplished Japanese potter under whom she developed Japanese throwing techniques. She conducted personal research studying traditional Japanese kilns and wares, traveling throughout Japan while she taught English in the time between her formal degrees. After obtaining her MFA in Ceramics at the University of Missouri in 2015, she taught her craft in California.
In addition to managing a large scale ceramic studio, she also taught at California College of the Arts, City College of San Francisco, and Laney College. She has worked on projects through Piece of Clay such as commissions to Michelin star restaurant Sons & Daughters, designed ceramic furniture in collaboration with West Elm for their Oakland hotel, and has been featured in Architectural Digest.
She now teaches ceramics at the University of Arkansas School of Art and resides in Bella Vista, AR. Her studio practice includes large scale custom murals, modular tile work, vessel and abstract sculpture, and occasional small batch soda-fired porcelain domestic pottery.