Jennifer Elizabeth LeeOBE (born 1956) is a Scottish ceramic artist with an international reputation.[1] Lee's distinctive pots are hand built using traditional pinch and coil methods. She has developed a method of colouring the pots by mixing metallic oxides into the clay before making. Her work is held in over forty museums and public collections worldwide,[2] including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum. In 2018 Lee won the Loewe Craft Prize, an award initiated by Jonathan Anderson in 2017.[3][4] The prize was presented to her at an awards ceremony at The Design Museum in London.
Early life and education
Lee was born in North East Scotland, daughter of a farmer.[5] She was educated in Aberdeenshire. In 1974 Lee started a course in physiotherapy at Woolmanhill Hospital, Aberdeen.[6] Lee's interest in ceramics began after meeting Robin Welch in Suffolk in 1974. She worked with Robin and Jenny Welch during the summers of 1975 and 1976 as a studio assistant.[7]
From 1975 to 1979 she studied ceramics and tapestry at Edinburgh College of Art under the tutelage of Tony Franks. On completing her studies she was awarded the David Gordon Memorial Trust Prize and Andrew Grant Travelling Scholarship.[8] In 1979-80 she spent eight months travelling in the USA where she researched South-West Native American prehistoric ceramics and visited pueblos. She met with contemporary West Coast potters, including Peter Voulkos, Paul Soldner, Ron Nagle, Michael Frimkess and Viola Frey. In New Mexico she visited Ken Price and Rick Dillingham in their studios and in Oregon she took part in workshops with Paul Soldner, Stephen De Staebler and Betty Feves.[9]
2014 Guest artist in residence Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, Shigaraki, Japan
2015 Guest artist in residence Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, Shigaraki, Japan
2018 Artist in residence Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, Shigaraki, Japan
2019 Guest artist in Residence, Mashiko Museum of Ceramic Art, Mashiko, Japan[14]
Major exhibitions
Jennifer Lee has had retrospective exhibitions of her work at the Röhsska Museum in Göteborg, Jennifer Lee - Handbyggda Stengodskärl 1979-1993, Sweden in 1993,[15]Aberdeen Museums and Art Galleries, Jennifer Lee - Handbuilt Ceramics 1979-1994, Scotland in 1994. In 2009 Lee was invited by Issey Miyake to exhibit in a three-person exhibition alongside Lucie Rie and Ernst Gamperl at the Miyake Issey Foundation gallery 21 21 DESIGN SIGHT in Tokyo. 'U-TSU-WA'. The installation was designed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando. In 2019 Lee had a major exhibition of ceramics and drawings at Kettle's Yard, University of Cambridge, Jennifer Lee: the potter’s space curated by Sarah Griffin and exhibition design by the architect Jamie Fobert.
Jennifer Lee lives and works in London and regularly exhibits in the UK and Japan.
[17]
2019 - Salisbury Collection of Studio Ceramics, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK.
2019 - Modernity & Elegance: The British Collection by Bernard Leach, Lucie Rie, Hans Coper, and Jennifer Lee, The Museum of Ceramic Art, Hyogo, Japan.
2019 - POTs-the Vessel, The National Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand.
2019 - 75th Scripps College Ceramic Annual, Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery, Scripps College Claremont, California, US.
2018 - The Diana Reitberger Collection, The Gardiner Museum, Toronto, Canada.
2018 - The Dramatic Vessel, Iwate Museum of Art, Morioka, Japan.
2018 - LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize 2018, Design Museum, London, UK.
2018 - Things of Beauty Growing: British Studio Ceramics, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK.
2018 - Handheld, Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Connecticut, US.
2017 - The Ehrlich Collection of American and British Ceramics, San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, Texas, US.
2017 - Things of Beauty Growing: British Studio Ceramics, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, US.
2017 - The Dramatic Vessel, The Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art, Shigaraki, Japan.
2015 - Vessels: The Spirit of Modern British Ceramics, Mashiko Museum of Ceramic Art, Japan.
2014 - Toward a DESIGN MUSEUM JAPAN, 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT, Tokyo, Japan.
2014 - British Ceramics from Bernard Leach to New Generation, The Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art, Shigaraki, Japan.
2013 - International Ceramics, Verkehr Museum, Shizuoka, Japan.
2013 - Friendship Forged in Fire: British Ceramics in America, American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, California, US.
2011 - Contemporary British Studio Ceramics, The Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina, US.
2009 - U-Tsu-Wa, 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT, Tokyo, Japan.
2009 - The CellMark Collection, Röhsska Museet, Göteborg, Sweden.
2008 - British Studio Ceramics - 20th Century Transformations, Buckinghamshire County Museum, Aylesbury, UK.
2006 - Puur Klei, Pottenbakkers Museum, Tegelen, The Netherlands.
2005 - Modern Pots: Lucie Rie, Hans Coper and their Contemporaries, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, UK.
2004 - European Ceramics, Westerwald Museum, Germany.
2003 - British Studio Ceramics, Buckinghamshire County Museum, Aylesbury, UK.
2002 - Ceramic Modernism: Hans Coper, Lucie Rie and Their Legacy, The Gardiner Museum, Toronto, Canada.
2001 - Modern Pots, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich, UK.
2001 - Bengt Julin’s Ceramics, Gustavsbergs Porslinsmuseum, Sweden.
2000 - Britisk Keramik.2000.dk, Keramikmuseet Grimmerhus, Denmark.
2000 - Color and Fire, Defining Moments in Studio Ceramics 1950-2000, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles (touring), US.
1999 - Current Context - New Ways of Seeing, Royal Museum, Edinburgh, UK.
1999 - Clay into Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, US.
1998 - Gestaltendes Handwerk, Munich, Germany.
1998 - Collecting Craft, Hove Museum & Art Gallery, Hove, UK.
1998 - Spirit of the Times, Bowes Museum, Durham, UK.
1996 - Design im Wandel: Produkte, Fetische, Rituale, Übersee Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, Bremen, Germany.
Solo exhibitions from 2008
[18]
2019 Jennifer Lee: the potter's space, Kettle's Yard, Cambridge.
2019 Jennifer Lee: A personal selection, The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.[19]
2019 Jennifer Lee: Works from a Private Collection, Erskine, Hall & Coe.
2018 Sokyo Gallery, Kyoto.
2017 Gallery LVS, Seoul.
2016 Erskine, Hall & Coe, London.
2015 Jennifer Lee - Ceramics made in Shigaraki and London, Sokyo Gallery, Kyoto.
2015 Jennifer Lee, Tada no yume deshou ka, The Institute of Ceramic Studies Gallery Shigaraki.
2013 Erskine, Hall & Coe, London.
2012 Frank Lloyd Gallery, Los Angeles.
2010 Liverpool Street Gallery, Sydney.
2009 Frank Lloyd Gallery, Los Angeles.
2008 Galerie Besson, London.
Public collections
Jennifer Lee's work is held in these collections[20][21][22]
Japan
The Museum of Ceramic Art, Hyogo. Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts.
Mashiko Museum of Ceramic Art, Mashiko.
The Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art, Shigaraki.
2020 - House of crafts, Korean Craft Museum, Cheongju, South Korea.
2019 - Jennifer Lee: the potter's space, Kettle's Yard, Cambridge.
2019 - Jennifer Lee: Works from a Private Collection, Erskine, Hall & Coe.
2019 - Clay and Abstraction: When Memories Become Form, Mashiko Museum of Ceramic Art, Mashiko, Japan
2087 - Loewe Foundation Craft Prize.
2017 - Things of Beauty Growing: British Studio Pottery, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, US and Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK. ISBN9780300227468
2017 - Jennifer Lee: Ceramic and Drawing, Gallery LVS, Seoul, South Korea.
2015 - Jennifer Lee. Ceramics made in Shigaraki and London, Sokyo Gallery, Kyoto, Japan.
2013 - Friendship Forged in Fire: British Ceramics in America. American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, California, US. ISBN0981672876
2012 - Falls the Shadow, Jennifer Lee, texts: Tanya Harrod and Edmund de Waal, Atlas, London, UK. ISBN 907508448
2011 - Richard Zakin, Ceramics: Mastering the Craft, Krause Publications. ISBN9780873418676
2011 - Vessels: The Spirit of Modern British Ceramics, Mashiko Museum of Ceramic Art, Japan.
2010 - Contemporary British Studio Ceramics: The Grainer Collection, Annie Carlano (Editor), Tanya Harrod, Glenn Adamson, 2010 - Michelle Mickey, Yale University Press, US. ISBN9780300167191
2010 - David Whiting, Modern British Potters and Their Studios, A&C Black, London, UK. ISBN9780713687323
2009 - U-Tsu-Wa, Kyuryudo Art-Publishing Co, Tokyo, Japan. ISBN4763009079
2009 - The Cellmark Collection, Cellmark, Göteborg, Sweden.
2009 - Susan and Jan Peterson, Craft and Art of Clay, Prentice Hall, US, Laurence King, London. ISBN0131895982
2009 - Susan and Jan Peterson, Working With Clay, Prentice Hall, US, Laurence King, London. ISBN1856696057
2009 - Emmanuel Cooper, Twentieth Century International Ceramics, Thames & Hudson, London. ISBN0500514879
2008 - Jeffrey Jones, Studio Pottery in Britain, 1900-2005, A&C Black, London. ISBN9780713670134
2008 - Alun Graves, Jennifer Lee, Galerie Besson, London.
2008 - Contemporary Studio Ceramics, California State University, Sacramento.
2007 - Peter Siemssen Ceramics - A Lifelong Passion, Collection Peter Siemssen Foundation, Arnoldsche Art Publishers, Stuttgart. ISBN3897902567
2007 - James Graham & Sons 1857-2007, James Graham & Sons, New York.
2006 - Michael Hardy, Coiling, A&C Black, London. ISBN0713668903
2005 - Cyril Frankel, Modern Pots: Hans Coper, Lucie Rie & Their Contemporaries: Ceramics from the Lisa Sainsbury Collection, exhibition guide, Dulwich Picture Gallery. ISBN0946009368
2005 - Biennale Européene de Ceramique Contemporaines, Maison de l’Outil et de la Pensée Ouvriere, Troyes, France. ISBN2-915829-05-5
2005 - Celebrating 30 years of the Crafts Council Shop at the Victoria & Albert Museum, Crafts Council, London.
2004 - Jane Perryman, Naked Clay, A&C Black, London. ISBN9781408111055
2004 - Richard Zakin, Electric Kiln Ceramics, 3rd edition, Krause publications. ISBN0873496043
2003 - Betty Blandino, Coiled Pottery Traditional and Contemporary Ways, A&C Black, London. ISBN9780713666465
2003 - Jennifer Lee, New Work, Galerie Besson, London.
2002 - Jennifer Lee, Serene Beauty: Lucie Rie Retrospective, The Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, The Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art, Japan.
2002 - Paul Rice, British Studio Ceramics, Crowood Press.
2002 - Susan Peterson, Craft and the Art of Clay, Prentice Hall, US. ISBN0133744639
2002 - Ceramic Modernism: Hans Coper, Lucie Rie and Their Legacy, The Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, Toronto.
2001 - 1st World Ceramics Biennale, Ichon World Ceramic Centre Korea.
2001 - Modern Pots: Ceramics from the Lisa Sainsbury Collection, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts. ISBN0500975957
2000 - Jo Lauria, Color and Fire Defining Moments in Studio Ceramics 1950-2000, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Rizzoli. ISBN9780847822546
2000 - Susan Peterson, Contemporary Ceramics, Thames & Hudson and Calman/King. ISBN1856691888
2000 - British Keramik: British Ceramics.2000.DK, Keramikmuseet Grimmerhus / Fine Art Productions, Denmark. ISBN9788772458298
2000 - Cyril Frankel, Modern Pots: Hans Coper Lucie Rie and their Contemporaries, The Lisa Sainsbury Collection, Thames & Hudson. ISBN0946009368
2000 - Contemporary Ceramics, Thames & Hudson and Calman/King.
1999 - Jane Adlin, Contemporary Ceramics: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. ISBN0300200617
1999 - Edmund de Waal, Design Sourcebook: Ceramics, New Holland. ISBN1859740774
1999 - Josie Warshaw and Richard Phethean, The Complete Practical Potter, Anness Publishing Ltd. ISBN1844774538
1999 - 25 Years Crafts Council Shop at the V&A, Crafts Council.
1999 - Current Context, New Ways of Seeing, Royal Museum, Edinburgh.
1999 - Peter Schmitt, Frauen in Europa, Keramikerinnen aus 15 europäisches Ländern, Bayerisher Kunstgewerbe-verein, Munich and Galerie Marianne Heller.
1999 - Eric Yates-Owen, Richard Fournier, British Studio Potters Marks, A&C Black, London. ISBN1408183501