Leah Gerrard

Leah Gerrard has worked with metal for twenty years. Her passion for wire was sparked by a jewelry class in Florence, Italy, and led her to explore sculpture at Linfield College. Inspired by a customer’s intricate beaded wire basket she encountered while working at a jewelry supply company, Leah started weaving her own. After making a few beaded baskets, she realized that it was the simple skeletal structure of the wire that really interested her. Self-taught, she experimented with different wires and different weaving techniques. Leah was first able to make a large scale sculpture by emulating a technique pioneered by Ruth Asawa. She continues to develop her own methods, expanding her pieces into large-scale sculpture entwined with found objects. Her process is continually evolving in response to the challenges she creates through her designs.