Lesley Anton
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Quick Facts
Years as an artist I don’t really remember not being an artist - so, I’ll say, since I am 55 this year, 45 years. I’ve always been some kind of a maker. Main clay body My most favorite clay is Black Mountain stoneware, but any high fire clay. Primary clay building method Wheel throwing is my thing. I love the meditative calm it brings me. Favorite studio tool 3 faves: An R2 trimming tool. An elephant ear sponge. A half moon wood rib. Clay wishes or dreams As a business owner whose business happened to be making clay things, I found it very difficult to make a really lucrative living being the sole maker of that thing. There has to be some kind of happy medium between being the sole maker, and being a production mold factory having other people make everything. I’d like to find that. In the meantime, I would love to return to having a garage studio like back in the old days for me. Or, perhaps in the near future once my girls are out of college, a neighborhood studio with maybe 3-4 other serious ceramic artists would be awesome. For now, I am trying to stay in the present moment, and completely enjoying where my journey has taken me. |
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Artist Statement
Ceramic artist and designer Lesley Anton gets her inspiration from many sources; the natural world, architecture, the human form, and machinery. Her lighting designs are a surprising and intriguing addition to any interior. Anton’s bold, sculptural forms and rich textural surfaces make a strong organic modern statement. She tempers their exaggerated scale and silhouettes with quiet color palettes, in hues stolen from nature: snow, sky, mud, sand, algae. The high fired glazes are made idiosyncratic with added slip texture, eucalyptus pods, lotus root slices, and other organic elements impressed into the clay that sensualize what might otherwise be another hard-edged modern object.
Nationally represented by Interior Design showrooms for 15 years, Lesley Anton’s ceramic lamp collection has embraced the spirit of Mid Century and Scandinavian design while giving a nod to Japanese minimalism. When developing this body of work, the goal was to fill the void of what was missing for her in the offerings of high end lighting for beautiful interiors. Most of her favorite historic pieces were the classic Danish Modern lamps that displayed the very rich irregular reduction glazes of the 60’s, but what she found throughout the design trade showrooms was mostly solid bright colored commercial looking glazes that left her feeling flat. She saw the need to fill that void, making forms that were modern in profile with her favorite irregular reduction glazes, but if a bright color was needed, it should be deep and saturated, not flat. The designers that have utilized her lamps in their projects really have appreciated the bridge between modern and organic - contemporary yet human.
Now, after an exciting cross country move from busy Los Angeles to the stunning and mysterious streets of Savannah, a new collection is brewing with a renewed commitment to form, function and fun. Stay tuned!
Artist Bio
Lesley Anton, originally from Benton Harbor, MI, grew up mostly in Omaha, NE, earning a BA in Graphic Design and Illustration from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. While she took ceramics classes in high school and college, she didn’t return to clay until 10 years later. Cut to - 1990, living in NY, working as a flight attendant for American Airlines, living around the corner from the 92nd St Y and their fantastic ceramics program. She enrolled in classes here and just kept throwing. After a move to Los Angeles, and a new interest in interiors sprouted, her functional work morphed into lighting and in 2001 her collection developed into a thriving business. After a solid 27 years at the wheel she is taking a much needed break since their move to Savannah for her husband’s new position at SCAD as professor of performing arts,
Along with enjoying her new life in Savannah with her husband Craig, Lesley currently serves as Business and Social Media manager at The Beehive Foundation, a Savannah based non-profit publishing company specializing in books about southern culture, history and architecture.
Contact Info
You can find updates to Lesley’s work at lesleyanton.com, and you can contact her through her artists contact page on her website.
Ceramic artist and designer Lesley Anton gets her inspiration from many sources; the natural world, architecture, the human form, and machinery. Her lighting designs are a surprising and intriguing addition to any interior. Anton’s bold, sculptural forms and rich textural surfaces make a strong organic modern statement. She tempers their exaggerated scale and silhouettes with quiet color palettes, in hues stolen from nature: snow, sky, mud, sand, algae. The high fired glazes are made idiosyncratic with added slip texture, eucalyptus pods, lotus root slices, and other organic elements impressed into the clay that sensualize what might otherwise be another hard-edged modern object.
Nationally represented by Interior Design showrooms for 15 years, Lesley Anton’s ceramic lamp collection has embraced the spirit of Mid Century and Scandinavian design while giving a nod to Japanese minimalism. When developing this body of work, the goal was to fill the void of what was missing for her in the offerings of high end lighting for beautiful interiors. Most of her favorite historic pieces were the classic Danish Modern lamps that displayed the very rich irregular reduction glazes of the 60’s, but what she found throughout the design trade showrooms was mostly solid bright colored commercial looking glazes that left her feeling flat. She saw the need to fill that void, making forms that were modern in profile with her favorite irregular reduction glazes, but if a bright color was needed, it should be deep and saturated, not flat. The designers that have utilized her lamps in their projects really have appreciated the bridge between modern and organic - contemporary yet human.
Now, after an exciting cross country move from busy Los Angeles to the stunning and mysterious streets of Savannah, a new collection is brewing with a renewed commitment to form, function and fun. Stay tuned!
Artist Bio
Lesley Anton, originally from Benton Harbor, MI, grew up mostly in Omaha, NE, earning a BA in Graphic Design and Illustration from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. While she took ceramics classes in high school and college, she didn’t return to clay until 10 years later. Cut to - 1990, living in NY, working as a flight attendant for American Airlines, living around the corner from the 92nd St Y and their fantastic ceramics program. She enrolled in classes here and just kept throwing. After a move to Los Angeles, and a new interest in interiors sprouted, her functional work morphed into lighting and in 2001 her collection developed into a thriving business. After a solid 27 years at the wheel she is taking a much needed break since their move to Savannah for her husband’s new position at SCAD as professor of performing arts,
Along with enjoying her new life in Savannah with her husband Craig, Lesley currently serves as Business and Social Media manager at The Beehive Foundation, a Savannah based non-profit publishing company specializing in books about southern culture, history and architecture.
Contact Info
You can find updates to Lesley’s work at lesleyanton.com, and you can contact her through her artists contact page on her website.