Elise Leasure creates ceramic pottery.
HOW LONG HAS SHE
BEEN MOLDING CLAY?
Six years. She works out of her San Jose Forest home.
HOW DID YOU
GET STARTED?
“A friend gave me a hand-painted bowl as a house warming present. I thought it would be fun to paint but they didn’t have any of those studios yet [where you can paint your own pottery]. My husband got me a kiln because that was the only way I could do it.”
SO YOU MAKE THE POTTERY YOU PAINT?
“I used to make the bisque myself but now it’s so cheap, I might as well buy it.”
HOW DOES THE
PROCESS WORK?
“I use a glaze similar to paint but it’s clay-based, so when I fire it, it becomes part of the piece. It fuses to it.”
WHAT SHOWS HAVE
YOU DONE?
Art After Dark 2000 and the San Marco Arts Festival last month. Although she is appreciative of the opportunity to display her work, art shows can be daunting for her because she finds it difficult to have strangers critique creations she considers a labor of love. “I don’t really like doing shows because it makes me feel very vulnerable and exposed. I really become attached to everything I paint.”
HOW WOULD YOU RATHER HAWK YOUR WARES?
“I love it when people use my house as a little store. I don’t like to push [for a sale]. It’s good to push yourself [to produce] but it’s not in my nature to sell things.”
WHAT IS THE APPEAL
FOR YOU?
“I’ve always drawn or painted. This is like painting little pictures. It’s really relaxing; I just get lost in it. I love everything I make. It’s very personal to me. I’m married to them and hate to part with my pieces.”
WHAT’S MOST REWARDING ABOUT YOUR AVOCATION?
“Starting from nothing and making something. This summer, I painted a mural with the children from Assumption Catholic School of all different scenes of Jacksonville on the school’s breezeway. It was 120 feet long. It’s fun to share.”
WHAT’S CHALLENGING
FOR YOU?
“Finding something that’s unique to paint. Having to come up with something of your own is like writer’s block. Then sometimes, I can’t stop and I’ll be up at 2 a.m. painting. Right now I’m working on Italian scenes. I flip through magazines to find interesting things. Maybe I’ll see a fabric I like. It translates well to plates and bowls. People send me pictures and I catalog them. I get ideas that way.”
HOMETOWN
Pittsburgh.
WHAT BROUGHT YOU
TO FLORIDA?
“My husband got a job here. We were sick of the weather.”
FAMILY
Leasure and her husband, attorney Kevin Leasure, have two sons, Alex and Mason, and one daughter, Devon. She also has a pet love bird named Sweetie and a cat named Cocoa. “Devon is an artist too. It’s fun to do pieces with the children.”
WHAT PROFESSIONS
HAVE YOU HELD?
Prior to become a full-time housewife, Leasure worked as a legal secretary.
HOBBIES
A self-described type-B personality, Leasure attempts to live up to her name. She is involved in set design at Assumption, plays a little tennis and enjoys watching the television show “CSI.” True to her Italian background, Leasure most enjoys dining at Giovanni’s Italian Restaurant. Her favorite place to loaf is the beach.
— by Monica Chamness