MAKING IT IN MAINE Artist’s work captures her unleashed spirit

In her loft with a bird’s-eye view of downtown Belfast, Kate McLeod uses a technique called gel casting to make the brightly colored ceramic pieces that adorn her striking wooden cabinets, shrines and tables. First, she pours clay into Polygel casts. She later paints and decorates the dried assorted shapes with glass and sparkles and then affixes them to the furnishings.

“I love color,” says the long-haired, laid-back McLeod, padding around her studio in comfy jeans. She sidesteps a sleepy mutt named Jack and a hyperactive Maltese named Poppy. “I like to make things that have a practical application, but are still beautiful and bright.”

McLeod, 37, grew up in New Brunswick and was educated at McGill and Concordia universities in Montreal, and spent years in Latin America before settling in Maine 11 years ago. The colors and culture of Guatemalan folk art, in particular, have influenced her and the things she creates. Her cabinets and shelving units feature irregular shapes and soft, rounded edges with lots of embellishments. She uses old wooden boxes as a base upon which to build her vibrant facades. She also does large-scale paintings of flowers and creates mirrors and signs.

Unschooled in carpentry, McLeod simply bought some tools and taught herself when she decided to make furniture.

“It seemed like something I could do,” she recalls. “I don’t do anything advanced, but I was able to learn how to do it to make what I wanted.”

Lately, she has been exploring iconography, or symbolic images of religious and legendary subjects. She has made a series of shrinelike cabinets, which combine her trademark bold colors with images of contemporary motifs. One shrine opens up to reveal a kind of clay tablet, reading “bling,” that’s decorated in sequins and gold paint.

“Sage liked that,” she says, referring to her 14-year-old daughter. She has another daughter, 11-year-old Eve.

In addition, McLeod makes earrings containing iconic pictures of pop-culture figures such as James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley and Peewee Herman. She paints them with shimmery colors and festoons them with sequins and glass beads. They’re offbeat, free-spirited and funky – like art, and like artist.

McLeod displays her work in her studio at 31 Pendleton Lane in Belfast, and at art shows around the state, including Laudholm Nature Craft Fair in Wells on Sept. 9-10, and the Common Ground Country Fair in Union, Sept. 22-24. Her earrings are available at Shoegazer in Ellsworth, For information, visit www.katemcleod.com, or call 338-0698.