In Honor of Her Extraordinary Works of Art and Contributions to Advancing the Status of Women Artists
This interview was published in 2023. On March 20, 2024 we received this statement from Leah and share it with you with her permission:
Leah wrote: “My work in portraiture follows my own search for a higher state of consciousness. What if I could capture the consciousness of my subject by entering the mind through its only portal beyond the cranium: the eyes? Our physical form is an external manifestation of our thoughts, one of which is supreme – how we see ourselves. If I could see my subject as my subject sees herself/himself, in her/ his secret thoughts, most intimate thoughts, what would be seen? As my subject poses, a conversation begins not unlike one that would occur between a patient and her/his analyst. The revelations, the “nakedness”, then become symbolized through forms and objects, through stances and poses, until the portrait makes a statement that is not simply representational. The sur-realization is in fact, the reality of a complex being, revealed beyond the classic portrait. There is no mis-taking the subject. But my approach is beyond “likeness”, it is a revelation of the inside-out of a self. I think of my portraits as “soul-catchers”, an effervescence that is tangibly intangible.
Interview with Leah Poller
It is an honor and pleasure to present this interview with Leah Poller, leahpoller.com, the recipient of the Manhattan Arts International “Outstanding Woman Artist Achievement Award” for her extraordinary works of art and contributions to advancing the status of women artists. Leah Poller is a Chairperson for New York Society of Women Artists, and also a member of New York Artists Circle and Women’s Caucus for the Arts.
Her sculpture “On Her Mind”, shown below, was selected for the Manhattan Arts International “HerStory” 2023 juried exhibition. When Leah submitted her artwork to “HerStory” she supplied this statement: “I sculpt from live subjects. Before commencing, we spend days of quiet conversation, sharing stories and life experiences. From the innermost thoughts of my subjects, I transform their essence, revealing the ‘inside on the outside’, creating a surrealistic/metaphysical presence in the adornment of headdresses and attire. By seeking the soul behind the eyes of my subject, I create ‘soul catchers’ of their beingness, rather than portraits of their likeness.”
On Her Mind, from the “Woman Warrior Series”, bronze, 24.5″ x 15″ x 10″.
About Leah Poller ~ A Brief Introduction
Leah Poller is a figurative artist working in bronze. She was classically trained at the prestigious Ecole Nationale Superieure de Beaux Arts of Paris. She currently lives and works in Harlem, NYC, NY, dividing her time between NYC, Europe and Asia.
The artist’s many distinctions include being selected as the only foreign artist in the Beijing Biennale of Female Sculptors in 2015. Her large-scale works and installations have been exhibited in Hong Kong, Beijing, Mexico, Miami, Providence, New York City and throughout the U.S. She has been featured on television, and in numerous art publications. She has lectured extensively and held workshops on creativity.
After a record-breaking six-month exhibition of her bronze portraits in New York, including “Double Dare”, an homage to legendary jazz saxophonist Fred Ho, Poller has been selected to execute several noteworthy portrait commissions.
Double Dare: A tribute to Fred Ho, bronze, 28″ x 10″ x 18″
Interview with Leah Poller
RP: What reaction would you like viewers of your art to have?
LP: I would like my viewers to stand in front of the work, and feel equal parts of awe and curiosity. If they say. “Wow! I never saw anything like that before! How did she do it? What a cool idea! I’m inspired.”
RP: You have received many well-deserved accolades and awards. What has been the most important achievement in your art career and why?
LP: On the most personal level, during a chance encounter at an art fair in Shanghai, I accepted an outrageous invitation to fly to another Chinese town to visit the world’s largest ART Foundry. I followed my Wonderlust, and it transformed my life. Everything that has happened to me since that moment has given me the strength of my convictions, the courage to follow my intuition and the ability to bring others into my dreams.
RP: As an active member of women’s arts organizations, what do you consider to be their most important contribution?
LP: Women possess an enormous willingness to communicate, share, confront their vulnerabilities and give of themselves for the greater good. In spite of abysmal statistics that confirm the ongoing inequities for female artists, the women I have encountered in many organizations show no rancor, no anger and tons of willingness to work together to change the status quo. At the end of the day it is quite possible that the treasure they acquired matches or surpasses the 60 seconds of fame that has escaped female artists. Maybe taking home the trophy is empty, compared to forging incredible friendships and sharing companionship over the years.
My Sunflower Man, plaster, 32″ x 22″ x 16″
RP: What advice can you offer anyone interested in taking action to increase gender equality in the art world?
LP: If you can’t do, or don’t know where to ask, if you have no time then support those who can. Adopt an artist, present your artist to others, support their work. Stretch your beliefs to where you no longer understand and allow art to show you that which 50% of our population has a lot to offer. It is time to make it possible for all of us to share in this richness.
RP: What do you wish for women artists’ equality in the future?
LP: To never again have to apply the concept of “equality” when describing art. No two artists are alike. No two artists create the same work. Any value system applied to art demanding equality has already excluded the essential, and perhaps superior element. Equality is a super charged word that implies distinctions coming from an ill founded belief.
RP: What advice would you like to offer fellow women artists?
LP: Art is a language. Find your verb. Challenge yourself to say the most interesting things possible. Learn and grow as your vocabulary develops. Strive for eloquence. Speak out loud and clear in your own voice. Choose your words carefully and remember it was always about being free.
RP: Why did you submit your art to “HerStory”?
LP: I have followed Manhattan Arts from its earliest beginnings. For one person to have sustained this mission with passion humbles me. I too have used HerStory to learn the personal history and drive that motivates a woman to be an artist. I just learned a new word: Sher-oes instead of Heros. These are our legends.
RP: Thank you Leah! 🙂
Brava! This full spectrum recognition is now duly named…
“Beauty – Mystery – Aliveness
This is Leah Poller truly expressed. “
The invisible, visibly ensconced in a meaningful transition of life as art .
At your side, we take a deep and fearless breath within the complexity of chaos and contrast… in a wisp it is set free… this creative lightness of being exhaled in a bronze intersection where each flounce and flaw, meets and melds. What one sees, is excavated through a silent permeating gaze exchanged by the animate and inanimate. The seer and the seen. What remains is a lush legacy imprinted in our minds and hearts.
Gratitude for your artful being – a generous and divine gift you give to all those you encounter through your very human presence, imagination and perseverance. Ever moved by your
– Beauty – Mystery – Aliveness !
Leah’s immense artistic talent is only dwarfed by her humanity expressed in every piece she creates. Souls revealed, her subjects’s emotions appear to breathe life into the room. Every time I revisit one of her sculptures I see something new. Inspiring, empathetic and loyal, it’s an honor to be Leah’s friend. Can’t wait to see what comes next!
I have enjoyed a professional business relationship with Leah for many years and I have always admired her wit, wisdom and determination. Those attributes are also what make her art so unique and the artist so inspiring!
Congratulations Leah!!
Commenting on the contemporary art scene two years ago, Roberta Smith said that today figurative art is ascendant. For proof of this, all that you have to do is to look at the magnificent bronze sculpture that Leah Poller has been creating for years. What an achievement! A thousand bravas, Leah!
I have known Leah’s work for a long time, and what has always impressed me, is her ability to express a specific moment in her sitter’s gaze. Her process is slow, laborious and time consuming, yet, when her sculpture is accomplished, it is as if she had ‘frozen’ her subject in a specific moment in time. She seems to extract from him/her an essence that belongs to the special relationship developed through the long sessions shared between ‘subject and object’, where these roles are mutually exchanged. That specific expression is kept, nurtured and preserved for ever. Particularly, knowing that one of her sitters is no longer with us, this element of an ever expanding present time is mesmerizing, precisely and paradoxically because of the nature of the medium she employs.
Tes oeuvres m’ont toujours parues originales, fortes, belles… tout comme toi, ta personnalité !
“Maybe taking home the trophy is empty, compared to forging incredible friendships and sharing companionship over the years.”
Thank you for this profound musing Leah. Perhaps Art must be in service of a greater vision, a greater mission; a reminder to treasure our connections and our shared humanity. Your work beautifully and repeatedly points to these deeper threads linking art, artist, community and our personal and collective interconnectedness.
Thank you for a lifetime of giving of your creativity, generosity and relentless energy.
I’m more than delighted to participate in this well deserved recognition!
Leah, my sister, captures in clay and casts in bronze the erotic warmth of the human body, the infinite depth of a living face. In an age of tricks and gimmicks, she creates a treasure of devoted art. Technical mastery, boundless imagination, exuberant generosity…she takes her respectful place in the tradition of essential sculpture and traces a unique path, uniting the unsurpassed classical with surrealistic modernity. Her faultless skill in the shaping of lines, curves, and proportions is beyond anatomical; it is the three-dimensional realization of her bountiful vision of the subject of her contemplative portraits. The hand that shapes these works is irrigated by a heart with no malice and uplifted by an inexhaustible appetite for life.
Congratulations Leah. I am so thrilled to learn you received Manhattan Arts International’s “Outstanding Woman Artist Achievement Award”. It is well deserved.
Your work is of a wonderfully humanistic artist – your sculpting live, and interviewing subjects prior. It is how I know you. They are a revelation of a story built on your imagination and that of your subject.
I value the opportunity to know you, to have shared food with you at your table and to have collaborated with you in our collective exposition at the at the MEET Digital Cultural Center in Milan Italy.
It’s a well-deserved award. I am happy for you, for your receiving award, and I am grateful to know you.
My friend, you are so worthy of this distinguished award! Along with many comments, I also love “find your verb”. You have found yours and you have applied “love” in all aspects of your work and life. Congratulations
and stay inspired for the next phases of your fantastic career…wherever you may be!
Leah’s talent expands our ways of looking at everything! It is so wonderful to all of a sudden have a new perspective on everyday things … I have always appreciated that about Leah’s sculptures .. from beds to bedrocks.
Love and Admiration,
Betty Murphy
Tant de souvenirs.
De l’argile au bronze un magnifique travail de précision, rempli d’énergie.
Congrats Leah.
Thank you for being yourself Leah, through and through – congratulations on this wonderful accolade!
Beautiful and inspiring on so many levels.
The magic of her work for me is the wave of evoked awareness, feeling, experience which washes through me. It lingers and provokes, over & over long after…finely nuanced. Then there is the wit…
Congratulations for the well deserved recognition. You have amazed us for years and years with your creativity, your talent, your energy – you are truly an inspiration
Leah, my lifelong friend, you are my “shero”. Your genius artistic talent and ingenuity have always kept me in awe. Your interview made me feel like I was there with you. Congratulations on a creative journey well lived and, finally, properly recognized.
Talent unsurpassed. What a legacy to follow. According to me , Leah speaks to the heart of every woman. “Find your verb” Poignant advice, especially now where the reversal of womens rights are on the rise. At a time when women have advanced into men dominated fields. I am inspired by her talent and her courage to leading the way for women generally. Much appreciated.
A well-deserved award for an artist who treats the material of the soul by casting it in bronze with her immense skill and sensitivity!
Besides being an innovative great artist, Leah is articulate, well spoken and courageous. In the last few years we have gotten to know each other better and I always feel enriched and supported by our dialogue. Leah truly deserves this honor!
It has been an honor and great pleasure in my life to know Leah. I have had good fortune to have benefited from her wisdom and guidance as a developing photographic artist. One reward was to have had such grand opportunity to exhibit with her in a project conceived by a group of artists to which I belong. A culmination of this endeavor led to an exhibit at the MEET digital cultural center in Milan Italy.
Your description of your process is inspiring. “Find your verb”is a new way to think about an artist’s voice. Beautiful work.
Leah, you’re a trailblazer and an artist in every sense of the word. A true inspiration. Thank you for doing what you do, and for being you! We are all blessed.
Such an extraordinary artist and human. Leah Poller’s work makes us think and see in new ways. Unsurprisingly, being in her presence has the same effect. This is recognition that is long overdue in the U.S.
Wonderful to see your work and contributions celebrated.
Congratulations, Leah. Your art is not only beautiful but so rich in expressing a wide range of emotions. Each piece triggers a new conversation, another reason to laugh, cry, admire, love… and see the world in a different way.
Well deserved! Leah’s work is consistently extraordinary.
Leah Poller offered deep and thought-provoking responses to her interview questions, and wise advice to women who are aspiring artists and those who want to support the arts. Her sculptures are amazing for their technique and humanity.
Powerful work and powerful words! You always pack a punch by inspiring and revealing the possibilities. The recognition is beyond deserved.
A voice of contemporary thinking in a truly insightful interview…Leah is not just a women making art, she is an artist with a voice. I love her advice : Art is a language. Find your verb.
Leah’s supportive advice to fellow women artists, ” Choose your words carefully and remember it was always about being free.” is ever so poignant, especially at this moment in the USA, where rights concerning freedom of speech and expression are under attack in ways we haven’t seen since women fought for the right to vote (i.e. burning of books, firing of teachers for introducing Michelangelo’s nude David, and “don’t say gay”, etc.)
Outstanding, indeed! Dare I say, after a life-long dedication to fine art excellend (and fine living excellence!) the Outstanding Woman Artist Acheivement Award for Leah Poller is even a tad overdue. Congratulations, Leah, you are a trailblazer in more ways than one!
Great work always from the magnificent Ms. Poller.
As a long-time admirer of her work, I can say that an accolade & retrospective of this magnitude is far overdue.
Recognition long over-due…an honor well deserved even if genderless…and oh the Beds !
Congrats Leah! Well deserved!
Well deserved! Great artist a wonderful sculpture.
LP: I would like my viewers to stand in front of the work, and feel equal parts of awe and curiosity. If they say. “Wow! I never saw anything like that before! How did she do it? What a cool idea! I’m inspired.”
This viewer: Mission accomplished! From your beds to portraits, I’m always inspired and in awe!
Bravo Leah Poller! You’ve produce a body of work signaled by rigor, intelligence, beauty and wit. This interview furthers your contribution to us all, what a good read! Hopeful, guiding and true.
Thrilled to see an artist recognized for their work and Contribution as a female artist but mostly as a true artist. Skilled in their craft, embodied in the creative and feminine divine, grounded in their medium, expressed fully and raising awareness of our souls.
Fantastic. I would add learn a foreign language!
Your words always add another nuanced perspective to the art and the appreciation. It’s a wow factor, every time!
Leah, your words always add a 2nd and unanticipated nuanced perspective and appreciation of the art. And so effortlessly clever. Love the experience. Thank you again and again! X Carolyn
Greeting Renee, Thank you so very much for this wonderful interview Leah Poller. Such an Inspiring courageous kind supportive generous artist. Thank you for this valuable information just like you Always provide Renee , thank you Kind regards Elaine
Well deserved!! Fabulous art from a fabulous soul!!!
Absolutely gorgeous work.
This is Great, Leah, thank you, and yes, I would love to leave a message! I especially love, “Find your verb.”
Amazing works and so evocative and I enjoyed hearing your thoughts about your work. So well-deserved.
So glad you are here with all of us with a golden voice. Congratulations
I am not surprised by the honor. I have known Leah to be a wonderful artist for decades!
Great interview, You portrayed Leah as a talented Artist ,Adventurous and an Inspiration that she is.
Congratulations Leah Poller! Your talent is extraordinary!!! “On Her Mind” tells a story of a young woman early in her journey, the narrative is apparent and the surface of the work is so inviting to the viewer. I love your advice to fellow women artists…
“Art is a language. Find your verb. Challenge yourself to say the most interesting things possible. Learn and grow as your vocabulary develops. Strive for eloquence. Speak out loud and clear in your own voice. Choose your words carefully and remember it was always about being free.”
This is invaluable advice to ALL ARTISTS! Thank you Ms. Poller
What an inspirational interview. Have always loved your work.
How is this work not better well-known?!?!?
C’mon!!!
Leah Poller is the epitome of artful soul-exhibition.
Thank you, Leah, for being here and showing us the way.
Well-written Catherine! Congratulation Leah on your award and your art.
This is a great interview. Always curious about what Leah has to say. Her work is always intriguing in a genius way.
I love her advice : Art is a language. Find your verb.
Leah Poller is one of our greatest living bronze artists. When I first sat with her work, first came the silence of awe. Next, the tears of wonder and connection with bronze that breathes. Leah’s is work that truly immortalizes the best of our humanity. Brava!
Great interview Leah, you are a real sheroe! Congrats again on the prize!
Dear Leah,
I am so proud to have you as a friend. You are blessed with an incredible talent and an amazing ability to use it well. Keep up the good work.
Love,
Joline