Paul Wm. Leathers
Location
Red Deer, Canada
About
Born in Winnipeg, Paul Leathers is a Canadian contemporary jeweller who pursued his undergraduate studies at Sheridan College’s School of Crafts and Design and the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (BFA), and his graduate studies at the University of Calgary (MFA). Paul has taught, led workshops and masterclasses, attended artist residencies, written articles, and exhibited his work both nationally and internationally. As well as his collaborative work with Canadian ceramic artist Trudy Golley, he is known for his jewellery and installation-based artworks that explore viewer interaction. He has received numerous grants and awards and, in 2006, was inducted into the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA). Leathers has served on the Boards of Directors of the Manitoba Crafts Council (President 1986–88), the Manitoba Jewellers Association, and the Governing Council of the RCA. Currently based in Red Deer, Alberta, he continues to lead workshops and exhibit internationally.
Artist Statement
EACH MATERIAL POSSESSES ITS OWN CURIOSITY
By Paul Wm. Leathers
I have found, through the adventure of travel and participating in international ceramics residencies, that stepping away from the routines of one’s studio practice and immersing oneself in new environments can lead to unexpected creative breakthroughs. I will discuss developments — brought about by occupying the interstitial zone between two materials, two studios, and two cultures — that were influenced by attending eight residencies at The Pottery Workshop in Jingdezhen, China and which have deepened my interest in the aesthetics of binaries, parallax theory, and collaborative artmaking.
Curiosity, its theory and methods, offers a means by which to engage with, refine, and expand the conceptual and technical boundaries of our material practice. As such, I feel it would be beneficial to examine what the word “curiosity” describes, and how engaging an attitude of investigation is a process that we can employ in both our personal lives and the products that we create.
I intend to take a syncretic approach to my subject, to illustrate my presentation with examples of current multidisciplinary work, and to unfold some thoughts developed during recent studio explorations with the goal of laying a foundation for further discussion and exploration in our practices.