Why Make? Episode 44: Zeke Leonard

On this episode we talk with Zeke Leonard, a Syracuse, NY based educator, designer, musician and maker. Born in Charleston, SC Zeke started out early, getting involved in community theater while growing up in Winston Salem, NC. His interest in acting and set design & construction led him to a degree in Set Design at the NC School of the Arts. Zeke moved to NYC to follow the dream of a career as a theatrical set designer where he eventually became disillusioned with all the waste created by the making of beautiful things. His realization that a whole pallet of plywood ultimately ended up in the trash bin at the end of each season dramatically shifted Zeke's mindset. Following his love of making things by hand and building functional objects Zeke pursued an MFA in Furniture Design at the Rhode Island School of Design and worked as a furniture maker in NYC coop studios until the financial crash of 2008. Zeke now finds his life as an educator in the School of Design at Syracuse University and playing music on his homemade instruments brings him the happiness in community and family he has been searching for. We are music lovers here at Why Make? and we started this conversation with Zeke by trading funny stories about late night encounters at the Galax Fiddlers Convention in Galax, VA years ago… …and the tail end of one of those tall tales is a wonderful beginning for our conversation with Zeke Leonard!