About the Artist
I am Leigh Jordan. When I was very young, my grandparents delighted in finding every creative way to prove that magic existed. I would spend hours looking for glimpses of little pixie hats, or tiny shoe prints. My grandfather would meticulously whittle the tiniest little shoes out of wood and attached them to long sticks, and “walk” them across fresh snow to convince me that elves and fairies existed. He would sew the tiniest little socks or hats and leave them for me to find in the vegetable patch, beside a trail of tiny shoe prints. He would weave magical tales of just catching a glimpse of a tiny little man running through the vegetables patch being chased by the cat, and in his hurry, he had lost his hat or shoe.
I feel like the luckiest woman in the world, I have the blessing to be able to work from home, be there for my children and family, but still be able to pursue my dreams and continue to produce models for many years to come. I live in an English village, my home now standing where an orchard once thrived, the garden enclosed by a 400 year old wall with a 14th Century Church close by, its clock bells mark out the day for me. All the stories of the past informs my art, it guides my heart and my hands as I strive to give form to the tales woven into the fabric of my inspiration. I feel so blessed to be able to reach into my soul and find the little spark of imagination that will one day become an art work that will touch the people who see it and be enjoyed long past my lifetime.
My great-greast-great-grandfather, who was a famous Irish Bagpipe player in the late 1800‘s, “The Donegal Piper”, insisted that he was stolen as a child and taken to the “Land of the Wee Folk” and taught how to play fairy music by Leprechauns. He never deviated from his story, he kept it up till the day he died, there was even a poem written about him at the time telling the tale of his otherworldly music and how it came to be, so maybe, just maybe, it was true! I have memories of being read stories that painted glorious images in my mind, Russian Fairy Tales, The Brothers Grimm, Charles Dickens and The Brontës, these were the pictures that I would one day be able to reach into and pull from my soul to create my artwork, it was a gift that I would use many times over my life. As an adult I became a Theatre Props and Scenery Maker and have been working making models for over 30 years, until finally deciding to enjoy more time with my children so took the chance to put my full love and attention on creating my own little world and inhabiting it with little characters.
