Meet Leah DeCapio of Spirits of the Rocks in Nederland

Today we’d like to introduce you to Leah DeCapio.

Leah, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I have always made art. My mother is a maker of all sorts of art and crafts, and when she taught classes, we (her 3 little girls) were her assistants. I grew up creating from what was around me. Later, I received a BA in Studio Arts, with an emphasis in Ceramics, from CU-Boulder. I loved clay from the first moment I experimented with it. I love how it sometimes has a shape of its own in mind! Sometimes I think I’m making a ceramic bird, but the clay has a different path for me entirely. Working in clay helps me accept that very little is really in my control!

Most of my work now is a collaboration with my husband, Scott DeCapio. One day, he simply offered to help me in the studio. He’s always been creative, but he has no formal training in the arts. He was a semi-professional climber and traded climbing lessons with one of my former classmates for basic pottery wheel-throwing techniques, and our collaboration began! He shapes the pieces, I then carve designs into them and further decorate with glazes.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Ha! No! I have learned to never get too comfortable. We previously lived in Glen Haven, a little town just outside of Estes Park, CO. We had an idyllic life: little mountain home with a detached art studio, beautiful gallery and huge “English style” garden. I rode an old red bike with a bell to work. We knew every single neighbor and almost every person in our town. We were almost “off the grid”…the list of what people think is the perfect mountain art life could continue. In 2013, Colorado had historic flooding. We lost almost everything: our home, studio, gallery, car… Insurance did nothing to help us. With the help of our friends, family, community, and government disaster assistance, and numerous art organizations, we raised some money for a down payment on a new home.

We re-located to Nederland, CO. We started over. We also simplified our life. We learned what was truly needed and important. We’re in a new home, new studio, new life! We also created a tiny human in addition to art!

We’d love to hear more about your art.
I primarily create black-and-white ceramic art. Most of it is functional (mugs, bowls, etc). I carve the designs into the clay using a technique called sgraffito. I am proud to personally be a part of every piece that leaves the studio. I am also dedicated to being as light on the environment as possible. We are solar-powered, and I re-use as much as I can and produce as little waste as possible.

I create because I feel most “myself” when I am making something. I feel calm and full of buzzing energy at the same time. Becoming a mother has taught me to welcome those moments with more grace. It feels a bit more quiet in my world when I carve the time to be in the studio. It has become hard to separate the two big “jobs” in my life, being a mother and an artist. Both help me continually move with what needs to form itself.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I would not change the path my life has taken. It has been a challenge to first find and create a new space to work again, but I’ve learned to focus more clearly. I’ve learned the tremendous value of community and how art can touch others. I feel honored to continue to create and share my art with people in small, intimate ways. I love that a pot of soup is shared in our bowls! People’s hands trace the same lines our hands do when we make ceramic treasures.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.spiritsoftherocks.com
• Phone: 720-271-2239
• Email: leah@spiritsoftherocks.com
• Instagram: Leah DeCapio
• Facebook: Spirits of the Rocks

Image Credit:
Kathy Harding, Daniel Gambino

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