Jennifer Lee @ Liverpool Street Gallery

Jennifer Lee, alongside Hans Coper and Lucie Rie (two of the most influential British potters of the 20th Century), is one of the world’s foremost contemporary ceramicists, represented by Galerie Besson, London and Frank Lloyd Gallery, USA.

Lee’s vessels invite associations with both the ancient and modern and time, place and space through the works’ colour, form and tactility.

Known for her highly skilled technique of mixing natural metallic oxides into the clay before firing in the kiln, Lee has created a distinctive aesthetic that presents an apparent simplicity and restrained elegance in opposition to the works complex creation. The oxides can be seen in the speckles, bands and haloes of colour that run through the inner and outer walls of each individual, unique piece.

Lee is fascinated by how oxides from different countries can react in different ways and sources them when travelling. Interestingly, Lee lays the coloured clay down for several months, even years, to allow mixes to mature. Unglazed and hand-built over a long period of time using the most ancient construction coil and pinch techniques, Lee’s creations evoke a journey of endless possibilities of the vessel form and recount her refined understanding of her medium.

Above are some photos taken at her 2008 Sydney exhibition at Liverpool Street Gallery, Darlinghurst

11 August – 2 September 2010 @ Liverpool Street Gallery, Sydney

2010 Sydney exhibition pieces

About the Artist

Jennifer Lee

1956 Born Aberdeenshire, Scotland
1975 – 79 Edinburgh College of Art, Diploma in Art and Design
1979 – 80 Andrew Grant Travelling Scholarship to the USA
1980 – 83 Royal College of Art, London, MA (RCA)

Jennifer Lee lives and works in London

Solo Exhibitions (Since 1993)

2010 Liverpool Street Gallery, Sydney
2009 Frank Lloyd Gallery, Los Angeles
2008 Galerie Besson, London
2006 Liverpool Street Gallery, Sydney
2005 Frank Lloyd Gallery, Los Angeles
2003 Galerie Besson, London
2002 Frank Lloyd Gallery, Los Angeles
2000 Galerie Besson, London
1999 James Graham & Sons, New York
1997 Galerie Besson, London
1996 James Graham & Sons, New York
1995 Galerie Besson, London
1994 Osiris, Brussels
1993 Galleri Lejonet, Stockholm
1979-1994, Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museum
1979-1993, Röhsska Museet, Göteborg

Sir David Attenborough writes, “because she does not use glaze, her subtle colours and misty shades come not from a veil draped over the pot but from within its very substance, as in the face of a cliff. There must also be sensitivity to shape and material linked to a kind of daring that comes from an instinctive understanding of both. It is this which fuels true creation and gives her work such distinction and beauty.”

Karen Livingstone of the Victoria and Albert Museum writes, “Jennifer Lee’s pots have a sculptural presence.

Persistent exploration and assured knowledge of her materials and forms is coupled with a visual continuity which she has confidently maintained and expanded upon”. Lee states, “I’m very meticulous. I admire the chemist’s attitude; experimentation, exploring new materials, the precision of measuring and systemically recording results.”

In the Los Angeles Times, a review of Lee’s exhibition at Frank Lloyd Gallery, Leah Ollman writes, “Lee’s creations touch the spirit because ultimately they are collaborations – with earth, gravity, time and motion.”

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The exhibition below was called U-Tsu-Wa, which means vessels.