Meet Leia Reed | Artist & Department Chair

We had the good fortune of connecting with Leia Reed and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Leia, is there a quote or affirmation that’s meaningful to you?
Eric Liddell: “I believe God made me for a purpose – but he also made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure.”

When I heard this quote I was moved by how direct and joyful Eric Liddell’s expression of his talent for athleticism was, and that his Christian faith drives his spirit to fulfill a purpose which lies outside of merely survival. For myself, as a child of artist/designer parents I grew up unaware of how artistic expression was anything other than living itself. Even things such as the feeling of the sun warmed garden stones in my hands and the fresh rain falling for my breath, or a patch of sunlight warmed carpet for my face–these things to me were joy and art. I only realized later on that God shaped my entire way of perceiving this world in order for me to express and experience joy. While I practice artistic skills, teach art curriculum, and create artworks and these works could produce good worldly results; my heart is set on the joy I feel from God as I do and follow Him in everything I create.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I will start with yesterday, when I found out that I had been chosen as one of five winners of the FACTS Innovation Teacher Awards for 2023. I applied to this awards opportunity for recognizing innovative approaches to educational practices, with a project lesson that I had been developing for the last three years. I began my teaching career in Jun 2020 during the Pandemic era. In my school interview I was asked “how will you teach 3D Art/ ceramics in a fully online format for this school year?” and truly I tell you, in my heart I had no idea at all. However, the idea struck me that families at home must have a lot of cardboard leftover from Amazon deliveries, so perhaps for this year we could switch from clay to cardboard and build ANYTHING. As a child I used to take boxes and build sculptural homes for bugs, cats, or animals themselves and I just did this for fun. So I figured–we could try it for this year and that’s how it all began.

Eventually we transitioned from fully online, to hybrid, to fully in person through the past 2 years. I had to pivot my sculpture curriculum, fix classroom machinery (that no one knew about), and slowly rebuild the classroom while supporting my students. I traumatized my them with how much cardboard was cut from scissors, but they did not give up. This year I was able to find a special knife specifically made to cut cardboard and they erupted in cheers.

I can tell you now that the last three years was incredibly difficult, as I of course want to be the best in everything I could possibly be, and yet the uncontrollable world around me was crumbling and being rebuilt from the ground. I prayed every day to God that he would help me do anything as long as I showed up to class. I prayed that I could become extroverted so that instead of being drained by having so many students talking to me everyday–that I would actually absorb their strength and energy instead! I prayed that peace would reign in my classroom every single day knowing how emotionally unstable and bleak things felt for my students. I prayed that God would give me His words, His patience, and His love because I struggled to do anything at all.

I am in my fourth year at this school, taking over the Department Chair position, and leading the art department with all new teachers. It was daunting at first, but through the trials of the previous ones I saw so many of my goals come to fruition and I was determined to lead everyone well and make them feel known. I am extremely thankful to be working with them.

This year for the Deep Sea Tournament, the project I submitted to the FACT Innovation Awards, I have students create sea creatures from ceramics (and other mix media) as well as paper mache environments to display their creatures. These sculptures are then displayed in an art gallery format in the classroom (which we rearrange specifically for this event the day before), and the entire school community from admin to students are invited to view the art gallery and vote for their favorite pieces according to multiple categories. Each year we try to expand on some way of making the gallery space more immersive–so this year we built a cardboard submarine wall display as well as a submarine entrance on the door. Some students create larger sculptures: such as a whale lantern or a glowing giant squid which we hang on the ceiling to further immerse the audience in the ocean. Students have so much fun working on their own projects, on the classroom displays, and participating in the event that I can’t imagine the art classroom without this kind of experience.

I have many students who take my class each year that they grow up and I’m now seeing the investment of my energy and teaching in them pay back as extremely hard working and innovative individuals. This year’s successful Deep Sea Tournament inspired me to tackle a new scale of gallery work with my advanced students for the Spring term. We will attempt to create an Alice in Wonderland (book only) inspired gallery show that will span the entire classroom, using the doorways to create a path for viewers, and instead of individual sculptures being made, each class level will be in charge of a specific part of the immersive gallery. I am so excited to see how my students have let go of the harmful stereotype “I am not the artistic one”, and take on creative leadership roles through these large scale projects. It’s my dream that every single person can unlearn the rigidity of the world and realize that their creativity has a purpose to be seen.

I just want to say, that I was never the best student at school. Although I did always push myself to take incredibly difficult classes–and failed repeatedly. I only learned about RISD because I wanted to ditch a class to attend their college visit. I went to RISD’s precollege program instead of a music program and realized it was the next place for me to move to. I studied Illustration and Painting there and experienced the highs and lows of the art world–many times I thought I might drop out. When I graduated I found myself more lost than ever before and worked many restaurant jobs. I never knew that I had any potential to teach, and I found myself applying to this school after a member of my church community recommended me for the 3D Art Teaching position due to my artistic background. I found a way to teach through the wildness of the pandemic, and now I’ve been brought to a steady ground and I know–there is no way that any of this could have happened without God. And I do not mean to say –that all this is ONLY God, no–it is me AND God, and I cannot comprehend of a greater privilege in how to live my life other than that. God made me care about people, and he made me an artist, and now I rejoice in His love.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I would definitely take them to the Huntington Garden. It’s such a wonderful place to visit, walk, learn about plants, see art, and just breathe. For food, you have to go to San Gabriel Valley, that’s where the legit Chinese food is at. Ji Rong for food, Xinfu Tang for boba (don’t even play, its fresh and handmade), Yi Fang for tea, and so many other options, even just being at the grocery store is fun.

Grocery shopping is legitimately my favorite thing to do. I love looking at everything, choosing fruits and veggies, reading ingredients, comparing prices, its so fun.

I would also definitely recommend going to Little Tokyo for Rakkan Ramen and just touring a beautiful place. Cafe Dulce has the best Hong Kong Milk Tea.

Sawtelle is great as well– there’s an Yi Fang there too, if you have tried the Sugarcane Mountain Tea, then you gotta go.

Salsa and Beer is my favorite Mexican food place. I always get the Chile Relleno combo.

The Broad museum has a permanent (I think) Yayoi Kusama Light Room exhibit which is super cool as well.

I like to eat and I like to be in gardens and grocery stores, you’ve mostly summed up my life right there.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
1. God 2. Jonathan Sylvia, RISD professor. The first teacher who taught me how to explore the wilderness within my heart with questions, drawing techniques, and kindness.
3. John Bechtold, Deerfield Academy professor. A teacher who showed me how to treat strangers like old friends.
4. My first Christian mentor, who always listened and is my role model.
5. Hayao Miyazaki, whose films showed me that the simplest things are the most beautiful.
6. My husband, for respecting me more than anyone in my life.
7. My family, for raising and loving me no matter how hard things are.
8. My students, who’s laughter and good memories helped my heart heal from my darkest moments.

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJxY9SzvZEY

Other: I currently do not use any social media, but I included the Deep Sea Tournament video that we created for the recent submission.