Cliff Lee

1951Born Vienna, Austria

EDUCATION

1971BS Biology, Eastern Mennonite University, Lancaster, Pennsylvania

UnknownMilton S. Hershey Medical School, Pennsylvania State College, Hershey, Pennsylvania

1976MFA Ceramics, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia

BIOGRAPHY 

Cliff Lee recreates classical Chinese forms using thrown and carved porcelain. He finishes these with glazes ranging from lava to imperial yellow.

Lee was raised in Taiwan where he was surrounded by his parent’s extensive collection of Asian ceramics. He moved to the United States in 1968 where he attended medical school specializing in neurosurgery. He left medicine in 1978 to pursue a career in ceramics.

Lee’s work reflects the influence of this early exposure to classic Asian ceramics. He typically carves motifs from mythology and from nature. Lee is known for his glazes including celadon, oxblood, lava, and oil spot. Lee's imperial yellow glaze was formulated and perfected over 17 years. It is considered to be true to the ancient Chinese formula for imperial yellow.

Public Collections

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York

The Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina

Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts

Racine Art Museum, WI

Smithsonian American Art Museum, Renwick Gallery, Washington, D.C.

White House Collection of Contemporary Crafts, Clinton Presidential Library, Little Rock, Arkansas

Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut

Bibliography

Bell, Nicholas, Ulysses Grant Deitz and Andrew Wagner. History in the Making: Renwick Craft Invitational 2011. Washington, D.C. and London, England: Smithsonian American Art Museum in association with Scala Publishers, 2011.

Website: http://www.cliffleeporcelain.com/

Southern Highland Craft Guild