Artist Research Assignment

JeeEun Lee is a sculptor and she was born and raised in South Korea. Lee went to Ewha Women’s University in South Korea, where she received her B.F.A and M.F.A degrees in Sculpture. She moved to the U.S in 2010, where she attended Syracuse University and received another M.F.A. Lee now works at Northern Kentucky University as an assistant professor. Lee’s artwork is inspired by nature and how nature influences relationships and herself. She also focuses on “human experiences,” like movement, time, memories/memory, life, and death.

JeeEun Lee has been exhibiting her art for twenty years now. Lee went to college in Seoul, Korea, and then Syracuse University. Her pieces are focused on nature and how nature may impact and influence the human body. Lee explains how she uses meditation as a tool in her work so she can connect/experience her feelings and nature as she describes. Her artwork is centered around the human experience and she uses symbols like mountains and water to depict these experiences because they offer “limitless possibilities” for her to communicate with nature through her sculptors and artwork.

Lee’s techniques are complex and seem to have a variety of textures and patterns in her artwork to represent symbols like water and mountains. Her sculptures do not appear to have used the pinch technique, but I am not exactly sure of this. Her choices in glaze colors are very limited. Lee uses accents of colors that are not overwhelming and give a soft nature-like feeling. Her artwork is displayed in many different ways, in one of her pieces thin flower-like shapes are on the ground and sculptures of people are hung from above. In another one of her pieces, it appears to be hung on a wall.

I chose JeeEun Lee because her artwork caught my eye. The piece in particular is the one that depicts a girl that appears to be falling into water(the image at the top). The texture of the base and the slight blue accent gives off the feel of water. The sculpture sort of defies gravity and adds to the illusion of falling into the water. My favorite part of Lee’s artwork is how she uses nature and human experiences are what inspire her sculptures. Her artwork just gives almost a surreal, yet familiar feeling which appealed to me.