Leah Rew

Leah Rew is one of the current Resident Artists participating in the City of Mississauga’s Resident Artist Program at the Living Arts Centre.

About the artist

Leah Rew is a glass artist whose work draws heavily from the whimsical world of clowns, circus imagery, and playful performance. Through bold colour choices and striking patterns, her sculptures evoke a sense of joy and wonder, designed to captivate, distract, and transport. Leah’s practice is rooted in escapism, creating pieces that offer a vibrant alternative to the heaviness of the outside world. Her use of solid glass optics plays with perception, inviting viewers to peer through and around her sculptures. These lenses distort and reflect the surrounding works, creating shifting visual experiences as one moves through the space. Each piece becomes both an object and a window, offering glimpses of other works, other angles, other realities. Leah’s work is unapologetically bright, youthful, and theatrical. Inspired by the emotional contradictions of clowns, the cheer painted over sadness, her sculptures celebrate resilience, levity, and the importance of looking for beauty in dark times. This pursuit is more than aesthetic; for Leah, it is deeply personal. The act of focusing on play, colour, and wonder has been life-saving, a way to keep moving forward by turning toward joy.