Porcelain in Process: Wheel, Altering & Fire

Join Leah Leitson and Susan Filley for a hands-on exploration of porcelain, from throwing and altering. 

About the instructors:

Leah Leitson

Leah Leitson is a studio potter and educator based in Asheville, North Carolina. She is Professor Emerita of Art at Warren Wilson College, where she spent more than twenty years teaching and mentoring emerging artists while maintaining an active studio practice. Throughout her career, she has balanced making, teaching, travel, and participation in craft communities, experiences that continue to inform both her work and her approach to education.

Leitson earned an MFA in Ceramics from Louisiana State University and a BFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. Her artistic development has been shaped by residencies at the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Guldagergaard International Ceramic Research Center, and Township10.

Teaching remains an essential part of her practice. In addition to her years at Warren Wilson College, Leitson has taught workshops throughout the United States and internationally at institutions including Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Penland School of Craft, La Meridiana International School of Ceramics in Italy, and St. John Pottery in the U.S. Virgin Islands. She is known for encouraging technical excellence, curiosity, and the development of an authentic artistic voice, believing that learning is a lifelong process of observation, experimentation, and discovery.

Leitson's work has been widely exhibited and is represented in public and private collections throughout the United States. Whether making, teaching, or traveling, she remains committed to the expressive possibilities of porcelain and to creating handmade objects that enrich everyday life through beauty, use, and connection.

Susan first studied pottery at Earlham College in Indiana with Mitsuo Kakutani, a Japanese artist. Her fascination with functional pots led her to continue training and working as a studio assistant. In 1985 she received her Master’s of Fine Arts in ceramics from LSU studying with Joe Bova and Linda Arbuckle.      

Over the next 10 years, she continued to make pots, while starting a family and making several cross country moves. After settling in SC, Susan rebuilt her studio and taught classes. In 1999, she was granted an award from the SC Arts Commission and she established an innovative studio, teaching center and gallery in downtown Charleston. The business was devoted to supporting ceramic art and building a clay community and remained as a vital clay center in Charleston for 20 years. 

Susan Filley

Susan has been very involved with the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts, the largest such arts organization with over 6000 members worldwide. She served on the board and then as President of NCECA from 2000-06, the first studio potter to serve in that position.  She is now recognized as a Fellow of the Council.

Susan has taught in many capacities including Penland, Arrowmont Craft School, college and museum programs, and many workshops. Her work has been exhibited internationally including the Shiwan Museum in China, the La Grange Museum, Georgia, and many private collections.  Recognized for her gestural grace in form and rich glaze surfaces, her work has been published in both books and magazines - Ceramic Design Book, 500 Teapots, High Fire Glazes and more.  

In 2005, Susan moved back to her home state of North Carolina and built a private studio.  There she helped to found FRANK gallery, an arts collective designed to support the arts in Chapel Hill, and she continues to make both pottery and sculpture.