Unruly Reverence brings together new works from Yehrim Lee’s Kkotsal [꽃살] and Soban [소반] series, where traditional Korean craft forms are reimagined through movement, abundance, and material risk.
In her Kkotsal Moon Flower works, Lee draws inspiration from the floral carvings found on Korean Buddhist temple doors, where patterns are carved from a single slab of mulberry wood. Translating this act of removal into clay, Lee incises, presses, and builds forms that hold an unruly beauty through tension: difficult angles, shifting surfaces, transforming drips, textures, and glaze.
The Soban Top Table works extend this exploration into sculptural furniture, merging vessel and table, object and offering. Hand-built using traditional Onggi jar-making methods passed down through her family of ceramicists, Lee’s practice honors Korean ceramic history while pushing it toward forms that are at once reverent, unruly, and alive.
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Unruly Reverence brings together new works from Yehrim Lee’s Kkotsal [꽃살] and Soban [소반] series, where traditional Korean craft forms are reimagined through movement, abundance, and material risk.
In her Kkotsal Moon Flower works, Lee draws inspiration from the floral carvings found on Korean Buddhist temple doors, where patterns are carved from a single slab of mulberry wood. Translating this act of removal into clay, Lee incises, presses, and builds forms that hold an unruly beauty through tension: difficult angles, shifting surfaces, transforming drips, textures, and glaze.
The Soban Top Table works extend this exploration into sculptural furniture, merging vessel and table, object and offering. Hand-built using traditional Onggi jar-making methods passed down through her family of ceramicists, Lee’s practice honors Korean ceramic history while pushing it toward forms that are at once reverent, unruly, and alive.
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Yehrim Lee is a ceramic artist born in Seoul, Korea, whose work bridges traditional Korean ceramic practices with contemporary sculptural form. Drawing from generations of ceramic history in her family, Lee works primarily through hand-building techniques rooted in traditional onggi jar-making, creating vessels and furniture that balance structure, movement, and expressive surface.
Her works explore the space between decorative and functional, restraint and excess, often through layered glazes, carved surfaces, and forms that push against the physical limits of clay. Influenced by Korean temple ornamentation, architecture, and color, Lee’s practice reflects an ongoing dialogue between cultural tradition and contemporary material expression.
Lee received her B.F.A. in Ceramics from the Korea National University of Cultural Heritage and later earned her MFA in Ceramic Art from Alfred University. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, including the Korean International Ceramic Biennale and the University of Michigan Museum of Art. Lee has held residencies and visiting artist positions at the University of Georgia, The Clay Studio, and the Archie Bray Foundation, and currently lives and works in Joshua Tree, California.
[C.V.]
Yehrim Lee is a ceramic artist born in Seoul, Korea, whose work bridges traditional Korean ceramic practices with contemporary sculptural form. Drawing from generations of ceramic history in her family, Lee works primarily through hand-building techniques rooted in traditional onggi jar-making, creating vessels and furniture that balance structure, movement, and expressive surface.
Her works explore the space between decorative and functional, restraint and excess, often through layered glazes, carved surfaces, and forms that push against the physical limits of clay. Influenced by Korean temple ornamentation, architecture, and color, Lee’s practice reflects an ongoing dialogue between cultural tradition and contemporary material expression.
Lee received her B.F.A. in Ceramics from the Korea National University of Cultural Heritage and later earned her MFA in Ceramic Art from Alfred University. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, including the Korean International Ceramic Biennale and the University of Michigan Museum of Art. Lee has held residencies and visiting artist positions at the University of Georgia, The Clay Studio, and the Archie Bray Foundation, and currently lives and works in Joshua Tree, California.
[C.V.]