Leila Denecke received her M.F.A. from Louisiana State University after four years of study in Japan at the Tekisui Museum of Art and the Ceramic Art Research Institute. Denecke received a 2004 McKnight Fellowship award from NCC and participated in the artist-in-residence program in Seto, Japan in fall 2001. She recently completed a residency at the Franconia Sculpture Park in Taylors Falls.