Leah Balsham

1915 Born Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

EDUCATION

1940 BFA University of Chicago/School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

1947 MFA University of Chicago/School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

APPRENTICESHIPS AND RESIDENCIES

1956-1960 (summers) Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, Helena, Montana

1968 Sabbatical Grant, Study,Japan studio of Fujiwara Yu, National Living Treasure of Japan, Bizen potter.

PRIMARY WORK EXPERIENCE

—Federal Art Project (WPA)

—Hull House, Chicago, Illinois

1944-1947 Professor, Art Department, Elmhurst College, Elmhurst, Illinois

1947-1983 Professor, Ceramics Department, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

BIOGRAPHY

 Leah Balsham is primarily known for sculpture and individual container forms. She worked with slabs, and threw earthenware, stoneware, and porcelain on the wheel. Balsham’s firings ranged from low to high fire, in oxidation and reduction kiln environments.  Surface treatment included majolica (a white-based usually with brightly colored, low fire decoration), incised, wax resist, china painted, lusters, and decals. Balsham’s wood fired pots made in Japan had little or no glaze.

Leah Balsham’s sculpture was influenced by a fascination with Greek myths and vase painting, folk and primitive art, Biblical lore, Japanese prints, Mughal painting (a derivative of Persian miniature painting), patterned surfaces, and water ecology. Some sculptures evoked plant forms while others could be taken apart, giving them an intentional game-like quality.

Leah Balsham is also known for her print making, her work as an artist for the Federal Art Project (WPA), and as teacher of children at Hull House, a settlement house, in Chicago, Illinois.