Jiyong Lee is a Carbondale, Illinois, based studio artist and educator who creates intriguing glass pieces that take inspiration from the science of cells.
According to Lee, he was always fascinated with the science of cells, the way they divide and grow from a single entity to a million multiplications in order to form a new life. This fascination prompted him to start creating segmented, geometrical forms that represent cells, embryos, and biological and molecular structures.
Each of Lee’s pieces, meticulously carved and pieced together from different pieces of glass using lamination, symbolizes “the building blocks of life as well as the starting point of life. “After the grinding and polishing process is completed, the piece becomes structurally sound but each of the parts that formed it remains clearly visible.
“I work with glass that has a variety of transparency, translucency, and opacity, the qualities that serve as perfect metaphors for what is known and unknown about life science,” Lee shares on his website.
Lee, who is a professor of art and head of the glass program at Southern Illinois University, has exhibited his pieces both nationally and internationally while receiving numerous awards for his work. His glass creations are also part of collections at the Barry Art Museum in Norfolk, Virginia, and the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York, among others. Continue scrolling to check out more of them.
