Leah Jensen

Cornish London-based ceramicist Leah Jensen has pioneered a distinctive technique of carving geometric patterns into clay. Replicating in her work the hidden geometry of Renaissance paintings, the artisan charts the relationship between mathematics and art. Leah’s research examines European painting between the 14th and 16th centuries, depicting tales of sorrow, tragedy and beauty. Leah obtained her BA (Hons) in Contemporary Crafts in 2014 from Falmouth University. A year later she was selected to be part of the Craft Council’s Hot House Programme. Leah has exhibited widely and internationally since graduating, including at Alter, Fitzrovia Chapel, 2019; Collect 2020, London Craft Week; Contemporary Living: Art, Craft & Design, Christie’s, South Kensington, London; and British Craft: The Miami Edit, Miami Beach, Florida.

Leah Jensen replicates in her work the hidden geometry of Renaissance paintings. To achieve this, she uses a pattern-mapping technique whereby the structure of the painting is revealed by pinning each angle onto the pot's surface. This is a technique that the artisan developed after learning about the maths and planning some of the great masters used when considering their composition. In doing so, Leah unearths hidden geometric structures that reside beneath the surface of the painting. The artisan maps out these patterns and forms and translates them by attaching, with pins, paper images of the painting onto a hand-built, unfired clay vessel, using the clay as a canvas. Leah then carves out these precise yet abstract patterns, creating a unique, meticulously planned contemporary object very much influenced by the past. Once the vessel is complete the narrative is hidden, just as in the geometric structure of the painting before it.

Next of Europe Exhibition