In 2017, everything changed for Taylor Lee. "I had this revelation," she explains. "I just quit everything and focused on making ceramics". And Lee has never looked back. Her bulbous, fun and lovable creatures have made it possible for her passion to be her full-time job. In the studio (a light and airy warehouse in LA), she experiments with many different types of clay and glazes. In traditional pottery, the wheel is the standard technique. But Lee usually builds her sculptures by hand – not because she's trying to be anti-tradition, but because she loves it. Ultimately, the process is about...
Bio
Taylor Lee (she/her) is a Korean-American artist born in 1981. She is currently based in Los Angeles.
Art school
Part of the reason Lee doesn’t use a wheel is because her teacher “hated the idea of ceramics being crafty”, so didn’t teach the skill. “I wish I learned it though because there’re so many other skills I can apply to my artwork", she says. But her hand-built technique is a huge part of the work’s style – and we like it just the way it is.
Did you know?
Lee is one half of an artist power couple. In 2022, she collaborated with her husband Peter Chan on a duo exhibition called Toy Show at Over The Influence in Hong Kong. She also used to fire the work of Venezuelan ceramistMagdalena Suarez Frimkess in a studio she used to work in.