My Story
Where the Joy Started
It was the 1970s and I reveled in the one-on-one attention I got when I went to stay with my grandmother at her house in North Memphis. Sitting at her dining room table was the first time I got my hands on clay. As a young kid I made all kinds of indescribable things that she processed all the way through firing so that I could have my treasures. I have several pieces I made with her in those days and many more that she gifted me over the years.
A Piece Made by Me with My Grandmother
My Grandmama and me on a visit back from college
How the Joy Got Reignited
When the world was shut down for COVID, my first outside interaction was at the community studio taking a throwing class. After the first two hours, I was totally hooked. I could feel Grandmomma contently nodding and cheering me on as I dove into this creative outlet. As I began using pieces in my home and sharing with family members, I started to understand how the feel and look of handmade pottery made everything prettier and taste better. Leslie Louise Pottery is how I get to share this passion for art with you so that you, too, can enjoy using unique pieces of art in your everyday life.
My Maker’s Mark
My grandmother carved her initials on the bottom of her pots with the year she fired it. I don't know how much thought went into it for her, but nowadays makers spend a LOT of time and energy developing the perfect mark or intentionally signing each pot.
As I started increasing my production, I needed a way for others at the community studio to identify my pieces when they came out of the kiln. I flipped and flopped around with some ideas, pondering a symbol that represented me or my experience in clay, and landed here. Two phonetic letters of the Japanese katakana alphabet spelling the first part of my name as pronounced in Japanese: "re-su".
Why? I'm in my fifties. As I look back on life the years I spent with college friends from Japan, the years I lived in Japan integrating as fully as a blonde-haired, blue-eyed outspoken American can, the years married to a Japanese man fully integrated into the family, and the even longer years raising two beautiful children from that marriage has morphed me in ways that are often hard to verbalize. In my day-to-day living, I no longer use the Japanese language or interact with Japanese people outside of my children very often, and it is a part of the fiber of my being. When I visit Japan, my mind and body return to the patterns of my early twenties with a sense of anticipation, excitement, and inner peace found few other places in the world for me.
Somehow, in some ways, because I'm so obviously a square peg when I'm there, I throw caution to the wind more. I'm more me. So the maker's mark on each of my pieces is a nod to throwing caution to the wind. To taking the leap. To slowing down and spending the time creating something that not everyone does. To being different. To standing out and standing up. To trying something new.
My Grandmother’s carved initials
My Maker’s Mark and a Dragonfly stamp I made
Me at a Sumo Match in Japan in 2016
An Updated Version of My Maker’s Mark and Logo
Get in touch.
Have a question or want to start a project? We’d love to hear from you!