Leah Diekhoff

Young adult novels have made an impression in my dreams and everyday thoughts since I was a fifth-grade child. The magical and creative universes portrayed in these novels pull me in like a spell. My artwork, inspired by these novels, creates miniature worlds encased in boxes that tell a story. Creatures and potions, science and exploration, gears and clocks, and whimsical and multidimensional realms fuel my imagination and are prominent subjects in my work.

I capture a specific moment in time for the scenes I create. Often I explore what world I would like to be a part of and how I can configure a narrative that gives me a chance to become a part of that world. I make my figures, props, and accessories from polymer clay and found objects, which are painted, sewn, and configured into active environments. I enhance these environments with painted canvases in the background.

Tension is something I love to represent in my art, whether it is subtle or extremely visible. Books inspire me to envision words as tangible scenes and influence my art to merge the two-dimensional and three-dimensional and represent the process of pulling images from the mind into existence. With my work, I wish to show others a glimpse of the creative world I live in. My work allows for fear and curiosity, for exploration and creativity of the mind to place oneself into a world and finish the narrative, each entirely different from the next.