Pia Leighton, PhD

Founder of Whisker & Brush

Amagansett, New York, United States

About

I’m the founder of Whisker & Brush, a mindfulness-based art school for children in Amagansett, NY. My classes invite kids to pause, connect, and create from a place of joyful presence and imagination. With a PhD in Literature, over a decade of Tibetan thangka training, and certification as a Reiki Master in the Pause in Joy lineage, my background is dynamic and interdisciplinary. What unites it all is connection—and a constant drive to create with intention. With over 400 original classes, I have developed a dynamic curriculum that allows children to access their imagination, visualize and create work that is integrative of their inner experience and aesthetically unique.

Experience

  • Art School Founder & Teacher at Whisker & Brush
    Feb 2022 - Present · 4 yrs 6 mos

    Joyful Art & Mindfulness for children

  • Maker-Mentor at LongHouse Reserve at LongHouse Reserve
    Apr 2025 - Jun 2025 · 3 mos

    As a Maker-Mentor at LongHouse Reserve, I guided students in the creation of the JoyField, a participatory thread installation in the Bamboo Grove. Working with local schools both in their classrooms and on site, we worked through weaving, attention, and collective creativity—resulting in a vibrant, immersive installation that visitors can physically enter and experience as a shared field of color and connection.

  • Art Teacher at Harbor Waldorf School
    Jul 2023 - Aug 2023 · 2 mos

  • Translator at The Children's Museum of the East End
    Mar 2016 - Jun 2021 · 5 yrs 4 mos

  • Full-time parenting at Career Break
    Aug 2010 - Dec 2020 · 10 yrs 5 mos

    During my full-time parenting years, I also dedicated myself to studying Tibetan Art and Reiki. I defended my dissertation during this period and worked part-time in various roles—from translation and teaching to offering Reiki. Throughout it all, my children remained my priority and were the seed for everything I do today.