'The human touch': Clay Studio resident artist exhibits ceramics with a personal touch

The result is hand-hewn-appearing, functional ceramics — mugs, bowls, plates, teapots — that are intended to be a fixture in the home, used daily. 

Lepp's work is on full display at the Clay Studio of Missoula in a show titled "North Country," her final exhibit after a two-year residency at the studio.  

“You're eating off of a plate that has my touch and my fingerprints,” Lepp said. “You can put your hand where my hand was, and I think that people in Montana get that. There's a history of ceramics and there's a history of craft, and I think they're choosing to say that's important in their lives.” 

Lepp has observed that choice play out around her again and again. Teaching ceramics, she said she’s noticed her students seem to be seeking authenticity and the imperfection of human-made things. 

“So much of our lives are so digital and not connected and kind of polarizing,” Lepp said. “And I think they really want the human aspect, which is why I try to leave as much of the process and the human touch in all of my work.” 

Lepp’s work pulls from her surroundings, primarily Montana’s vast and wild landscape. 

Vases mimic the ever-present mountains, pulling colors from the alpenglow settling across a winter ridge and tones of the earth's stone and soil. 

Observations of fleeting experiences have become the foundation of Lepp’s work.

Lepp’s work hasn’t always been based on the natural flow of things. She used to create perfectly replicable functional pieces that were available for purchase through her store. 

But as she entered graduate school, she felt the work was missing something, even though it carried the markers of quality ceramics. 

“I didn't feel like my soul was in that work,” Lepp said. 

In graduate school, she took on the practice of determining what she found beautiful, taking pictures of things like the worn wooden floors in her older house. 

“There was kind of this path between the kitchen and the stove, and you could see that on the floor, and I thought that was really beautiful,” Lepp said. “I realized that all the things I thought were beautiful were things that had a history to them, and things that looked worn or weathered.” 

Now, instead of replicating each other, her mugs vary in size and shape. They “fit” differently in each hand, each suited for a different person. 

Lepp noted that it was freeing to let go of the idea that her work had to be perfect. 

Gesturing to a wall of feathered bird faces squinting at the observer in varying levels of judgment, Lepp described an almost communicative process between herself and the clay. 

“I don't worry about getting everything perfect,” Lepp said. “I just want it to have this kind of soul to it. Like the birds, they all have their own little personality.” 

A standout amongst her functional pieces, Lepp’s “Birds of Judgement” are a bit more decorative than her mugs or teapots. 

Each bird's face is unique in its shape, round with a distinct beak and beady eyes. As a Canadian currently residing in the U.S., Lepp found herself struggling with the current political climate. 

For solace, she turned her attention to bigger concepts, particularly the interplay between humans and the animals we share this planet with. Her focus ultimately landed on birds.

“They have witnessed 300,000 years of human folly and triumph, and they will likely persist long after we are gone,” Lepp wrote in her artist statement explaining the piece. “This understanding inspired 'Birds of Judgement,' a reminder of the lessons we can learn from the smaller creatures who make up our shared ecosystem.”

As she makes the birds, there’s a moment where they “open their eyes,” so to speak, for the first time. Lepp said she forms the birds' faces before taking the final step of pushing her fingers through the clay to reveal their squinting eyes. 

This moment, she told the Missoulian, feels like the best example of how in her work the clay has a role in its own creation. 

“I am the maker of it, but in a way, it's kind of born out of me, and I also get to meet it in a way,” Lepp said.

This final exhibition as a resident at the Clay Studio of Missoula runs through Aug. 29, but even after its close, Lepp intends to stay in Montana as a full-time potter. 

Lepp noted that her time as a resident is largely responsible for her ability to embrace pottery as a full-time job. 

“It takes a village to make a village potter,” Lepp said.