in 2013 leavitt created a series of articulated wooden statues lampooning pop culture icons. leavitt's one-off hand-sculpted wood and clay "mash ups" featured celebrities, politicians, humanitarians and other famous non-fictional personalities crossed with fictional and infamous sci-fi characters. with "empire peaks", leavitt is "juxtaposing the classic archetypal roles found in yoda, luke skywalker, darth vader, and the rest of the famed cast with pop-culture personas." (laughing squid) "by turning well known figures such as kim jong il, che guevara, charles darwin, albert einstein, gandhi, abraham lincoln, barack obama, michael jackson and steve jobs into consumer products based on the popular franchise, leavitt hopes to explore such themes as idol worship, our coveting of mass-produced collectibles and our societies need for heroes, rebels, villains and tyrants." (trendhunter) according to the houston chronicle, leavitt went "viral with his spaced-out rendition of public figures as star wars characters" "'empire peaks' is a phenomenal, star wars meets pop culture, collection of hand-carved action figures." (church mag) "every single work in the exhibit is a stroke of genius." (zimbio)