Kathy Lee

Selected Works, Artist Statement, Education, Exhibitions, Commissions, Representation

Selected example of works


Korean style sake jar 5 1/2" Tall	Tea Jar 5 1/2" Tall

Tea pot with bamboo handle 4 1/4" Tall	Oil Lamp 5 1/2" Tall

Kathy Lee's thrown, closed forms are altered by paddling; the "no-drip" spouts are formed on the pot then removed, cut, hollowed and reattached; lids are cut; and hand-shaped knobs and feet are added. the resulting pots, while being fully functional and influenced by the East/West tradition of Shoji Hamada and Bernard Leach, also acquire the precious quality found in weather-worn and smoothed beach pebbles, shells and driftwood. They ask to be held and used.

Ms. Lee was born in 1933 in Bookings, South Dakota. It was not until 1970, however, while living with her family for a year in Denmark, that she first touched clay. A neighbor, Danish potter Mette Harning, loaned her a copy of Bernard Leach's "A Potter's Book", and invited Ms. Lee to spend several hours a week using the kick-wheel in her studio.

After returning to Philadelphia, Ms. Lee became affiliated with the Cheltenham Art Center studying with Syd Carpenter and Elyse Saperstein, as well as attending Temple University's Tyler School of Art. She was a member of the Cheltenham Clay Guild until her husband's death in 1989. Ms. Lee moved to Eugene in 1989 and has been a member of the Club Mud Clay Guild at Maude Kern's Art Center since 1994. She has attended hands-on workshops with potters including Warren McKenzie, Clary Illian, Michael Simon, Joe Bennion, David Shaner, and Doug Casebeer.

No toxic materials are used in making these pots. They are fired primarily in a reduction atmosphere to a temperature of 230 degrees F. The work is stamped with a "K", superimposed over an "L".

Education:

South Dakota State College, 1953
Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia, PA, 1967 - 1969
One-on-one training with Mette Harning, Trorod, Denmark, 1970 - 1971
Cheltenham Art Center, Philadelphia, PA, 1973 - 1976
Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, PA, 1976 - 1978
Workshops with Warren McKenzie, Clary Illian, Michael Simon, Linda Christianson, David Shaner, Joe Bennion, Josh DeWeese, Doug Casebeer, Anabeth Rosen, Judy Moonelis, Jim Dannisch

Exhibitions:

1998 - 2004	Annual Sitka Center Art Invitational, Portland, OR
1997 - 98	Third Annual Invitational Art Exhibit, First Presbyterian Church, Portland, OR
1995 - Present	Maude Kerns art Center, Eugene, OR
1986	Lutheran Theological Seminary Philadelphia, PA
1981	Pavilion Gallery, Mt. Holly, NJ
1980	Contemporary Religious Art, Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church, Bryn Mawr, PA
1976	Harvest of Fine art, Chestnut Hill College, Philadelphia, PA 41st International Eucharistic Congress Exhibition of Liturgical Arts, Philadelphia, PA

Commissions:

Eight Chalices and patens for use at the 41st International Eucharistic Congress, Philadelphia, PA
Communion sets for: Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia and Ascension Lutheran Church, Philadelphia, PA

Representation: