Steven Young Lee News

ARE WE THERE YET? Featured in the Berkshire Eagle

A JOURNEY IN CERAMICS

NORTH ADAMS — Sometimes, the only way to move forward is to look back.

Leslie Ferrin, director of Ferrin Contemporary, at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art is doing just that with “Are We There Yet?” It’s an exhibition that is one-part retrospective, one part celebration. It’s a show about evolution, of transition.

It’s an introspective show, for Ferrin, who after 40-plus years in the ceramics market is pondering the next phase of Ferrin Contemporary.

Posted by AxelJ in News, Press Coverage

OUR AMERICA/WHOSE AMERICA? Featured in the Berkshire Eagle

Norman Rockwell’s illustrations with their “armies of perfectly imperfect girls” never resonated with artist Niki Johnson, a member of the “Atari 2600” generation, as they peered at her from porcelain commemorative plates that seemed to be everywhere during her youth — the pages of magazines, television screens, the walls of middle America’s homes.

And yet, some 30 years later, she would begin purchasing these commemorative plates, at thrift stores for just a few dollars each, tucking them away for a moment that felt right, for a project yet unrealized. Over a decade, she would amass a collection of a few hundred Rockwell plates, along with dozens of other motifs and designs featuring American landscapes, playing children, churches and historical landmarks, flora and fauna.

CRANK vases, installation view, 2019, Coiled Red Earthenware – Kid Tested Mother Approved, 13 x 13 x 22″

Posted by AxelJ in News, Press Coverage
Steven Young Lee in the Oregon Artswatch, May 2019

Steven Young Lee in the Oregon Artswatch, May 2019

‘Harmony through dissonance’: Steven Young Lee’s ceramic sculptures

by RACHEL ROSENFIELD LAFO

May 8th, 2019

“His approach is respectful yet at the same time irreverent, referencing historical traditions and time-honored techniques of glazing and decoration but adding unexpected surprises and a sense of humor to his ceramic sculptures.”

READ MORE HERE

Read More about his Exhibition APEX: Steven Young Lee at the Portland Museum of Art HERE

See more work by LEE

 

 

Steven Young Lee, “Porcelain Jar with Cloud and Dragon Design in Inlayed Cobalt Blue” (2019). Porcelain, cobalt inlay, glaze

Posted by AxelJ in News, Press Coverage
‘Caressable Clay, Pictorial Sculpture’, Curatorial Essay for Steven Young Lee

‘Caressable Clay, Pictorial Sculpture’, Curatorial Essay for Steven Young Lee

Jane Hartsook Gallery at the Greenwich House Pottery

Steven Young Lee

April 11 – May 9, 2013

Catalogue Essay:

Caressable Clay, Pictorial Sculpture

by Donald Kuspit

“…Lee’s vessels are an object lesson in the deliberate use of unpredictable chance to dramatic effect. They call attention to the hazards of the firing process as well as to the
properties of clay. They take a calculated risk, demonstrating the uncertain dialectic of fire and clay that informs ceramic art.”

Download PDF Here

 

Steven Young Lee, “Jar with Clouds” 2013, porcelain with cobalt inlay, 16 x 14 x 15″.

Posted by AxelJ in Artist News, Blog, News, Press Coverage