about me

Leah Jay is an artistic polymath, aspiring beat poet and “crazy dumbsaint of the mind”, spiritual seeker, follower of the Way, and fae forest defender.  Five years ago she moved north from California driven by wildfires and opportunity — setting up her new art studio among the tall trees of Beaverton, Oregon. The isolation of the pandemic, coupled with the challenges of chronic illness, inspired her to rekindle her poetic urge, with her work only recently seeing publication.

She’s taken inspiration from: watercolors, acrylic paints, pastel chalks, ink, yarn, wool, paper, trees as friends, pond creatures, worlds both seen and unseen, Joan of Arc, biology, subatomic particle physics, and scripture from every religion.  Her colorful, expressive art has been shown, published, and collected widely.  Highlights from her art career include directing 2001’s WTC Memorial Art Project to facilitate artists’ responses to 9/11, and creating the artbook “Amphibian Love” which raised money for frog conservation efforts.

Leah is currently a comfort care hospice volunteer, and enjoys meditation and chanting with the Bright Way Zen spiritual community.  Her most recent accomplishment is completing New York Zen Center’s Foundations in Contemplative Care program, and she looks forward to mastering the art of composing new prayers for a world that needs them.