Artist Spotlight: Leah McCroskey 

Leah McCroskey is a ceramicist who creates mostly wheel thrown functional pottery. She lives and works in Scituate. When Leah moved to Scituate with her husband, two kids and dogs a few years ago the first thing she focused on was setting up her new clay studio. And what a clay studio Leah built! If you have the opportunity to visit her showroom or take a few lessons I highly suggest you go. I can’t wait to play clay with Leah! ~Marj

What type of art do you create?

I am a ceramic artist that creates from my heart and soul.  Currently, I create mostly wheel thrown functional pottery but I also love creating hand built pieces.  I am beginning to morph wheel thrown and hand built methods together.

Is your art for sale?

Yes, I am currently exploring modes of selling my pieces. 

How would buyers reach you?

Email Leah McCroskey at leahspottery@gmail.com or call: 571.327.4030

Please tell us a little about yourself and your background:

I come from a very creative family and spent years giving myself permission to be an artist and trying to find the art medium that best suited me.  At first cake decorating gave me permission to create and that transitioned to pottery over 20 years ago.

Can you tell us about a project or accomplishment that you are particularly proud of?

I have a beautiful and uplifting pottery studio at my home that I designed myself.

What upcoming events or projects do you have in the works?

The 46th Annual North River Festival of the Arts will be held on Memorial Day weekend, May 27 & 28, 2023, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. This show is located in Marshfield Hills. It is a wonderful family attended show with arts and crafts for the kiddies.

I am also in the process of creating clay classes to encourage creativity and connection.

How do you see your work contributing to our community?

I would like to gather and empower people to connect and support each other,   connect to their fun loving joyful wise inner child;  all the while creating with messy muddy fantabulous clay.

What challenges have you faced in your work, and how have you overcome them?

Making pottery is in itself challenging and at times unpredictable.  There are many steps that can go awry so enjoying the process of creating and exploring new ideas is important.  Wheel throwing has taken time and patience but is now a meditative experience.  If I am not completely present with the clay while it spins on the wheel, the clay will let me know.

What advice would you give to aspiring [profession/interest] in our community?

Keep going, don’t quit. A quote my ceramics professor had in our studio says it all:

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have.

We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”
~Ira Glass

Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers?

Everyone has creativity within them. It’s just a matter of unlocking that creativity.