Author: La Mano

We were thrilled to have Simon Leach at La Mano to lead an informative and entertaining workshop and demonstration. We are also be hosting a month-long show of his work in our gallery. This is Simon's first workshop and show in NYC.

Exhibit: March 8–29
Artist’s reception: March 8, 5:30pm
Workshop: March 9, 10am–4pm

I Can't Sleep Waiting for Simon Leach to Teach

Diane Waller, clay enthusiast and co-owner of La Mano Pottery, shares her view on Simon Leach's upcoming visit to our studio...

Simon Leach is coming to New York City, hurray!

I don't have to tell you fellow potters how messy we get when we throw, at least I do. I get clay in my hair as well as on my apron, two towels, all my clothes, the floor and my shoes. Don't you? With that in mind, you might get excited about Simon Leach. If you haven't, then you must, watch some if not all of his 118 YouTube videos so you can be as amazed, amused and entertained as I was. I couldn't help myself; I clicked from one YouTube to the next charmed by his personality, captivated by watching his hands and listening to his tunes. I didn't get through all of them but in all of the ones I did watch, he always throws with a big hat on and it stays clean. Here's a little know fact, his grandfather, Bernard Leach, while touring in the USA in the 50's, insisted on doing demos in his tweed jacket and never got a speck of clay on his clothes. It must run in the family. Neatness that is. Not something we associate with clay which is really clean mud.

At Christmas one year while Simon was still in Cornwall with his family, Grandpa Bernard said the now immortal words, "Look for the beauty but also for usefulness in a pot." It seems when Simon was young, he had little or no interest in pottery. It wasn't until he found himself in a far away country from England, that would be Greece, with no dishes that he discovered he had learned to make pottery whether he wanted to or not.

Bernard's words are still omnipresent in Simon's work. He makes functional pottery and sells it in his studio in Pennsylvania where he moved a couple of years ago. And while he throws he makes theseinstructional videos. In them, he talks about his philosophy, plays his music and shows you the techniques he teaches. Just seeing the pots rise into shape on the rotating wheel and listening to him talk about making pottery, my hands twitched to play in the clay myself. He ends every video, "Keep Practicing." Yeah, right.

You get to his YouTube videos by going to his website www.simonleachpottery.com or just Google him. He also has a book coming in May, Simon Leach's Pottery Handbook. I'll order it as soon as they will let me.