14. Leaf Studios

Multidisciplinary

Resident artists at Leaf Studios are generally multidisciplinary, or grow into multidisciplinary practices, as a way of moving beyond singular modes of expression. Through interwoven storytelling, their work explores how art crosses boundaries of emotion, material, and observation.

This fluid interplay of mediums fosters ongoing curiosity and experimentation, allowing each practice to evolve, shift, and transform over time. Currently, Leaf Studios is home to overlapping dialogues between ceramics and printmaking; plant-sourced and eco-dyed fibres in textile work; and painting as a means of activating and bringing three-dimensional forms to life.

An established traditional artist collective nestled in Kallista for over a decade, Leaf Studios houses six resident artists, their working studios showcase their ongoing art practices to the community. The capacity to create individually or collaboratively has established a nurturing and supportive hub of connected women working in textiles, paint, ceramics, illustration, sculpture, print making, doll making, jewellery, ritual, magical and artist’s tools.

Leaf Studios fosters a culture of collaboration—creating space for artists to work together on shared projects, exchange skills across disciplines, and learn how to grow and sustain thoughtful, independent creative practices.

The studio has always been a women-led collective, united by a shared commitment to visual storytelling that resists the mass-produced and the fleetingly trendy. Here, handmade is a philosophy rather than a process: love and intention, paired with imagination and hard work, shape works that are deeply considered and purposefully made.

Nature is a central source of inspiration for all artists at Leaf, though it is interpreted through many lenses. This reveals itself in varied palettes, literal and abstracted forms, and works imbued with folklore, whimsy, or quiet utility. As some artists move further into their creative lives, explorations of ancestral roots and the balance—the yin and yang—of life begin to surface.

For some, the joy lies in the act of making, experimentation, and process; for others, in the final moment of completion. These impulses coexist imperfectly, alongside the quiet connection formed when a piece finds the person who feels compelled to carry it home.