Today we’d like to introduce you to Leigh Adam.
Hi, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Well, my story is a long one, I’m turning 73 next month so I have done many things in my life. I identify as a woman, a mother, a teacher, a designer, an artist, a gardener and an adventuress, to start with. I have worked in the US, Mexico, Costa Rica, China and Kenya as an artist and a teacher. I am passionate about the environment and clean water, teaching, water harvesting and habitat gardens. And art! I was instrumental in the creation of the Permasphere and The Crescent Farm and the Serpent Trail in the Australian garden at the LA County Arboretum. I currently design for Studio Petrichor and create pollinator supporting, regenerative gardens that also harvest water. In addition, I consult for Metabolic Studio as a member of Farmlab, bio-remediating impacted soil in the industrial corridor of Los Angeles. I also teach mosaic art in various area schools.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I’d say it was a roller coaster with many ups and downs. Fortunately I love roller coasters! Lessons?
Number 1 would be: Learn what true diversity means and embrace it.
Number 2: Be grateful, start your day in gratitude and celebrate being alive and having another opportunity to contribute.
#3? Pretend you’re right and go ahead! Do it! Being in action is it’s own magic. We can create anything if we get off our butts and DO things. If we make mistakes and learn from them, we can teach others what we’ve learned and then learn some more. Don’t “play it safe”. At the end of their lives most people regret what they didn’t do, not what they did do. So take some risks!
The biggest challenge I’ve faced is being a woman. Probably not appropriate for an interview but…..I’ve been known to say, “would you be saying that if I had a penis?” I have built my own home, engineered my own water harvesting system and I’m not finished yet. I have more to contribute.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I think it’s important to acknowledge that whenever I am asked to do a commission for a school or a group home, my answer is an unequivocal “no!” But I will accept a residency to teach the teachers or therapists how to do the work I do, the work of collaboration.
I think it’s important to acknowledge that whenever I am asked to do a commission for a school or a group home, my answer is an unequivocal “no!” But I will accept a residency to teach the teachers or therapists how to do the work I do, the work of collaboration.
Together we create beautiful art that celebrates the contributions of each individual but along the way we lose the “I” and become the “we”. “We made this mural. We built this garden. We designed this work. We made the pieces.” It’s a juicy transformation!
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
It makes me happy to teach and to learn, to share and to grow and to innovate. It delights me to see the gardens I’ve designed flourishing, harvesting water and filled with pollinators and birds.
It brings me great pleasure when my students are honored for their accomplishments in the realms where I’ve taught and supported them. I glow when the art we create collaboratively is celebrated.
Contact Information:
- Phone: (323) 632-7844
- Website: https://studio-petrichor.com
- Email: [email protected]
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