Joanne Seongweon Lee
Snowmass Village, CO
Biography
Originally from South Korea, Joanne Seongweon Lee received her BFA from New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University with a concentration in Ceramics in 2015. After graduation, she moved back to South Korea for an Artist in Residence program at the Korea Ceramic Foundation: Icheon Cerapia. She completed an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2019 and achieved the Franz Rising Start Project Scholarship: Outstanding Performance in Porcelain Design in that same year. After graduating, she finished her Residency at Sonoma Ceramics in Sonoma, California. In 2021, Joanne taught at the James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. She is currently working as a Studio Coordinator for Ceramics at Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass Village, Colorado.
Artist Statement
By taking a purist approach to color, form, and configuration, I allow the essence of clay to remain the emphasis of my work. Through my profound interaction with the materials, I have learned that the challenging qualities which come with working with clay, when overcome, eventually highlight both elegance and subtlety. As I remove myself from the wheel and transition to coil-building, I am able to explore new qualities of clay through rather unusual construction methods. Using especially thin coils in my process, allows me to control many physical qualities such as weight, size, thickness, form and time. The more control I can achieve, the more balanced and refined the objects become. The more time spent on each work, the more sincere and alive they become as my energy and focus migrate throughout. I intentionally preserve the seams formed between each coil, representing endurance and acceptance between the clay and myself as the maker. Each coil must shoulder the weight of subsequent coils that pile on top of one another. When these coil-constructed objects reach structural and aesthetic balance, I consider the forms complete. These objects serve as metaphorical vessel that contain my cultural background, personal memories and the profound emotions accumulated along the coils and facades.
