From her tree-house studio to high-end galleries, this L.A. potter’s work is turning heads

by Grace Xue at LA Times

Passage from the LA Times: 

 

At “Calibration,” a group exhibition in June at the LaiSun Keane gallery in Boston, Lee presented four 3D-printed pieces: three Chun meiping vases, which were popular forms during China’s Song dynasty, and one “Tetris”-inspired piece of cong pottery, based on a Chinese Bronze Age form. 

 

Having grown up in a house with traditional Chinese furniture and decor, Lee says she’s exceedingly intrigued by ceramics from the Song dynasty (960-1279).

 

 

“A lot of the best glaze innovations were during the Song dynasty, which was a thousand years ago,” she says. “I was trying to re-create different Song dynasty glazes, and I’ve been able to make similar ones. So I’m interested in exploring that as a way for me to personally time-travel and understand what that history was like.”

 

These 3D-printed works were the result of Lee’s experimental clay residency at the Expressive Computation Lab at UC Santa Barbara. There, Lee and researchers explored how to develop new 3D printing programming along with machines that could work on less predictable and stable materials such as clay.

 

However, it hasn’t been the smoothest. Lee says collapses happen often during the printing phase because of the moisture and malleability of the clay. She says she has had to hold and reshape the clay as a piece is being printed, leaving some of the vessels with warped shapes. 

 

But Lee has embraced the imperfections and put these pieces out for exhibition.

 

Full article on  LA TIMES

September 25, 2024
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