Jae Won Lee is a

Korean American Korean Americans () are Americans of full or partial Korean ethnic descent. While the broader term Overseas Korean in America () may refer to all ethnic Koreans residing in the United States, the specific designation of Korean American impli ...

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcela ...

artist living and working in

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. She received her

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...

from the

New York State College of Ceramics The New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University (NYSCC) is a statutory college of the State University of New York located on the campus of Alfred University in Alfred, New York Alfred is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town ...

Alfred University Alfred University is a private university in Alfred, New York, United States. It has a total undergraduate population of approximately 1,600 students. The university hosts the statutory New York State College of Ceramics, which includes The In ...

in 1995 and is currently an

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a position ...

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

East Lansing East Lansing is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. Most of the city lies within Ingham County, Michigan, Ingham County, although a small portion extends north into Clinton County, Michigan, Clinton County. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 ...

, where she teaches Foundation Courses and Senior Seminar. She hand-builds

porcelain Porcelain (), also called china, is a ceramic material made by heating Industrial mineral, raw materials, generally including kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The greater strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to oth ...

and uses other materials such as paper and hair. Much of Lee's work is derived from an isolation that is created by her trans-cultural identity of both

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

and the United States. Lee's works serve as a means to express and internally reconcile her two

dichotomous A dichotomy () is a partition of a set, partition of a whole (or a set) into two parts (subsets). In other words, this couple of parts must be * jointly exhaustive: everything must belong to one part or the other, and * mutually exclusive: nothi ...

cultural worlds. Being

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, people from the Korean peninsula or of Korean descent * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Korean **Korean dialects **See also: North–South differences in t ...

, but living in the US, she finds that neither place is her

home A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or more human occupants, and sometimes various companion animals. Homes provide sheltered spaces, for instance rooms, where domestic activity can be p ...

. Lee says that her “…sense of ‘home’ is a spectrum of

emotions Emotions are physical and mental states brought on by neurophysiology, neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavior, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or suffering, displeasure. There is ...

...of yearning for belonging,

wholeness Wholeness may refer to: * Holism, the idea that systems and their properties should be viewed as wholes, not just as a collection of parts * Integrity, the ethical quality of being honest and having strong moral principles As a proper noun * '' ...

, and rootedness.” The possibility that these two worlds might coexist is embedded deeply in her work. To her, “...art is a reflection of the

human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') or modern humans are the most common and widespread species of primate, and the last surviving species of the genus ''Homo''. They are Hominidae, great apes characterized by their Prehistory of nakedness and clothing ...

experience.” Lee’s work is meditative in both the ways it is made and conceived. Her journal is an essential part of her creative process. For her, writing is a solitary act of contemplation that distills her ideas to the most essential forms. The same applies in her studio life; working is a solitary act. The obsessive nature of her work, especially with making multiples, creates a meditative space that is vital in her work. The effect is forms like hundreds of bundles of tiny needles--like porcelain coils or a row of wafer-thin

discs. Her forms are reduced to the “ultimate necessities” and hark back to

minimalist In visual arts, music, and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in the post-war era in western art. The movement is often interpreted as a reaction to abstract expressionism and modernism; it anticipated contemporary post-mi ...

and

formalist Formalism may refer to: * Legal formalism, legal positivist view that the substantive justice of a law is a question for the legislature rather than the judiciary * Formalism (linguistics) * Scientific formalism * A rough synonym to the Formal sys ...

work. The reductive nature of her work makes important every undulation, the subtle variation, and the “slightest twitch in the

nervous system In biology, the nervous system is the complex system, highly complex part of an animal that coordinates its behavior, actions and sense, sensory information by transmitting action potential, signals to and from different parts of its body. Th ...

."Craig, Gerry, “Intangible Landscape” Sculpture v 25 (January/February 2006) 50-51

References

Bibliography

*Craig, Gerry, ''Intangible Landscape'' Sculpture v 25 (January/February 2006) 50-51 *Jae Won Lee, ''Jae Won Lee'' The Studio Potter v 34(December 2005) 15-17 *Lee, J W ane Hartsook Gallery, Greenwich House Pottery, New Your; exhibit">Greenwich_House_Pottery.html" ;"title="ane Hartsook Gallery, Greenwich House Pottery">ane Hartsook Gallery, Greenwich House Pottery, New Your; exhibit Ceramics Monthly v 45 (March 1997) 22

External links

*http://www.art.msu.edu/?page_id=12 *http://www.art.msu.edu/?page_id=76 *https://web.archive.org/web/20070722215154/http://www.secondstreetgallery.org/exhibitions/jae_won_lee-blake_williams.html *https://web.archive.org/web/20030529124312/http://clay.alfred.edu/gradslides/1995/lee1995/index.htm *https://web.archive.org/web/20071023173328/http://www.greenwichhousepottery.org/index.asp?reloc=%2Fevents%2Findex.asp *http://sunsite.utk.edu/ewing_gallery/individual_exhibitions_pages/2004/04_reflections/04_reflections.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Jae Won Year of birth missing (living people) Living people New York State College of Ceramics alumni Michigan State University faculty American sculptors Korean sculptors American ceramists