The Queue: Jiyong Lee
The Queue: Jiyong Lee
The Queue: Jiyong Lee
Jiyong Lee. Photo by Rusty Bailey.
Jiyong Lee’s segmented sculptures are marvels of glass engineering.
Using both machine- and hand-grinding techniques, Jiyong Lee crafts remarkably smooth, translucent glass sculptures inspired by biological processes such as cell division. The luminescent shapes he makes glow from within, as if announcing some arcane wisdom. Born and raised in South Korea, Lee earned his MFA from Rochester Institute of Technology in New York. Since 2005, he’s headed up the glass program at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. This September, he will show new work in a solo exhibition at Duane Reed Gallery in nearby St. Louis, which Jon Spayde previewed in “Craft Happenings” in the Fall 2024 issue of American Craft. Sebby Jacobson Wilson previously profiled Lee and Hoyeon Chung for this magazine in 2013.
Green Parallelepiped Segmentation, 2023, cut, laminated, and carved glass, 7.75 x 15 x 6.5 in. Photo by Jiyong Lee.
How do you describe your work or practice in 50 words or less?
My Segmentation Series works are sculptural objects that are made with glass. They often have geometric or biomorphic forms with segmented internal structure and translucent surface. The inspiration of the works is from microcosms that exist in the natural environment. They are often invisible and forgotten, but they are important parts in ecology.
What are the biggest technical challenges of your highly precise work?
I use thick, solid glass forms for my work, which is not the most commonly available form of glass. Using rare forms of materials is challenging but satisfying simultaneously. Getting high-quality raw materials has been getting more difficult in recent years.
What are your favorite tools for working with glass?
I have several machines for my work, but I also spend much time grinding by hand without using any machine. It is a slow but effective process, and I can’t get the same results by machine. I like the results of hand grinding with silicon carbide grits, so my favorite tools are lapping glass and grit abrasives.
You’re a professor at Southern Illinois University. How does teaching influence your work, or vice versa?
Multitasking is always challenging, but I like the two facets of the solitary process and time in my studio and the bustling students’ studio in the school. As I have more time in my career as an artist, there are more experiences that I can share with my students.
Mitosis, 2019, cut and laminated optical glass, 8.75 x 13.5 x 14 in. Photo by Jiyong Lee.
Green Ovoid Diatom, 2024, hot sculpted, cut, color laminated, and carved glass, 8 x 11 x 8 in. Photo by Jiyong Lee.
If you could have work from any contemporary craft artist in your home, whose would it be and why?
I would like to have Ann Wolff’s cast glass work. In many of her cast glass works, they show the rough texture of the clay and mold as well as the smooth polished glass surface. There is a nice harmony of roughness, smoothness, transparency, and translucency within the work.
Which craft artists, exhibitions, or projects do you think the world should know about, and why? Whose work do you love?
The Loewe Foundation Craft Prize Exhibition. Since 2017, the Loewe Foundation has hosted the Craft Prize exhibition with the selected 30 finalists annually. The locations of the exhibition change internationally, and the selected finalists’ work includes all mediums of craft. The exhibitions have been held in Madrid, Tokyo, New York, Seoul, and Paris. They are currently accepting applications for the 2025 exhibition.
Green Tetrahedron Diatom, 2024, hot sculpted, cut, color laminated, and carved glass, 9 x 10 x 9 in. Photo by Jiyong Lee.
Gray Segmentation Construction, 2022, cut, laminated, carved glass, 9.25 x 14 x 13.5 in. Photo by Jiyong Lee.
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