Karen Donleavy
Karen Donleavy was born in London, raised on the Isle of Man and lived in Ireland before coming to United States in 1979 to produce her whimsical, highly decorative animal designs in high-fired porcelain.

She studied at Dartington Hall School in Devon, England, the National College of Art and Design in Dublin and London’s Harrow School of Art, where her teachers included world-renowned potters David Leach, Michael Casson and Walter Keeler. While she tried working in other media—etchings and drawings—she always returned to her first love, ceramics, to express her fondness for animals.

Her work has attracted the attention of such diverse personalities as Julie Andrews, Lauren Bacall, Charles Bronson, Shari Lewis, Malcolm McDowell, Luciano Pavarotti, Anthony Perkins, Susan Sarandon, Jennifer Tilly, Tracey Ullman, Mrs. Robert Altman and Mr. and Mrs. E.L. Doctorow, who have either purchased or requested special orders of her line.

Her work was an instant well-out at the Anna-Mei Chadwick Gallery in London, in which her pottery was presented in a joint exhibition with the drawings of her father, the noted Irish author and playwright, J.P. Donleavy.