Ma Crush Monday: Ria Leigh: Fine Artist

Ria in her vintage racer-green Mercedes.

Knees weaken at the sight of the striking ceramicist and maker, Ria Leigh. Her signature red lips and sharp personal style light up a room- she's unmistakable. Click for more musings on our #MA CRUSH, Ria and her swanky little sidekick, Ari.

When we first met Ria in Los Angeles, Ari was just a baby. Clamoring for her siren-like presence, our crush only grew as we got to know her more. She exudes a sort of beautiful complexity, and it's not difficult to become enamored with her namesake art, collected home aesthetic, and her knowledgable mind (she is a wealth of information- from the topical to the obscure). We could only aspire to be what comes to her naturally. Now 6, the equally-chic Ari and her mother live in Seattle where she continues her work- beautiful objets d'art- often hand built, wildly painted vases or sculptural jewelry. The girl is straight-up cool. Take a minute to join in on the crush, as Ria answers #thesamethreequestions.

1.PS: Tell us a bit what's behind your children's names:

Ari Leigh, 6

R: Ari Leigh was originally going to be Ruby Soleil but was born precisely 4 days too late for the Astrological meaning of the name to have any significance. She was scheduled to be born a Scorpio, the heart of the Scorpius constellation is Antares (a red sun), but she ended up a Sagittarius. We didn't have any other names picked out for her and Ari just sort of popped into my head. Her name is basically just a reorganization of the letters in my name but it also means Lion and that particular animal holds a lot of mystic significance for her papa.

Leigh is a matrilineal middle name in my family, and I use it in place of my maiden name, felt fitting to pass it down to my daughter like my mama passed it down to me.

Recent sculptural ceramic piece as part of a collection  for Backtalk PDX — Recent sculptural ceramic piece as part of a collection for Backtalk PDX

2.PS: Can you share a few of your Motherhood Favorites?

R: We recently moved from LA to Seattle, we spent most of the summer at the beach and in Volunteer park at the kiddo pool, but now that the weather has turned cooler we've brought hang time indoors and are doing lots of arts and crafts. Our outings usually include:

Daniel Smith Art Store : for painting & collage materials

Seattle Pottery Supply : where Ari is BF's with veteran potter & employee Claudia

Columbia City Bakery: for after school sweet treats & the obligatory visit to adjacent Retroactive Kids Toy Store / kids hair salon.

3. PS: Would you mind sharing a SCRIBBLE? (a doodle, a recipe, a poem- anything!)

*I write lots of notes to myself, this one was a quote from an Alan Watts talk I was listening to one morning and by that evening I discovered that Ari had turned it into a collab art piece.*

"I'm really going to be heartbroken when she's too big to lay on my tummy. This was her at 3, she's just about 6 now and we still do this but I feel time ticking these soft golden moments away...but maybe I'm being pessimistic, maybe we'll just be freaks and she'll still want to lay her head on my belly when she's 45."

Idols: Wheel thrown, hand painted porcelain vessels. — Idols: Wheel thrown, hand painted porcelain vessels.

For more of Ria, visit her blog.