Frank Lloyd’s blog

Sometimes I need a break from the stress of the electronic world. I use lightning-fast technology, I’m surrounded by computers, and I’m constantly turning to e-mail, voice mail, and yes–now I’m even blogging. There’s a sense of overload, and I crave a respite. So it’s good to know someone like the artist Jennifer Lee.  In the digital age, Scottish-born Jennifer Lee seems to be from an earlier time. Her hand-formed pots, her hand-written letters, and her timeless aesthetic are from another world.

She’s now globally recognized for the work, and looking forward to an exhibit in Tokyo. Not just any show, however. It’s an exhibition that features 100 works by just 3 artists, and it’s a show that will give visitors “a taste of the limitless universe of U-Tsu-Wa (vessels).” Organized and designed by Issey Miyake, the show will be held in Tokyo at 21_21 Design Sight. It is scheduled for February 13 to March 10, 2009. There are three artists included in U-Tsu-Wa: Lucie Rie, Jennifer Lee, and Ernst Gamperi.

When I look at Jennifer’s work, I can see a stillness, a sense of quiet contemplation. In solitude, her works bring to mind a variety of images, mostly from the natural world. But, as Leah Ollman wrote about her work in the Los Angeles Times, “Their textures and pigmentation do not just evoke natural elements and processes, but convey an equivalency with them. Lee’s pots conjure the essence of sand, stone, silt and sedimentation. Breathtaking in their simplicity, they don’t just illustrate conditions of nature but elegantly, gracefully manifest them.”