Cliff Lee was a successful neurosurgeon before he turned to pottery in the 1970s. A true perfectionist, he often deems up to half of the contents of his kiln as unacceptable and has become renowned for his elegant vessels with whisper-thin walls and luminous glazes.
I fell in love at the first touch of the clay. When I sat at the potter’s wheel, I forgot everything. It was almost like a meditation. No stress, nothing. I said, this is a wonderful life.
Cliff Lee
Cliff Lee b. 1951
Born in Vienna, Austria, in 1951, raised in Taiwan, and educated in the United States, Cliff Lee is a celebrated ceramic artist renowned for his exceptional craftsmanship and innovative techniques. Lee's journey into ceramics is both unconventional and inspiring, reflecting his diverse interests and commitment to artistic excellence. Originally trained as a neurosurgeon, Lee’s shift to ceramics was a profound change driven by a quest for creative expression and an encounter with an inspiring pottery class during his medical training. He took the class in search of respite from the stress of his surgical job, which he soon left to pursue ceramics full-time, eventually earning his MFA at James Madison University.
Lee’s work is heavily influenced by Chinese porcelain from the Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties, particularly the delicate and intricate forms and glazes that characterize these periods. His artistry is distinguished by his meticulous attention to detail and his spectacular glazes. He is celebrated for his mastery of the rare and complex celadon and oxblood glazes, which require precise control of kiln temperature and atmospheric conditions. His celadon pieces, with their jade-like translucence, and his oxblood creations, with their rich, deep crimson hues, are particularly lauded for their beauty and technical perfection. Perhaps his greatest achievement, however, is his Imperial Yellow glaze, a revival of a 15th-century Ming Dynasty formula that took him an astounding 17 years to recreate.
Lee’s ceramics have been widely exhibited and are held in prestigious collections, including the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Mint Museum of Craft + Design, Charlotte, NC, and the White House Collection of American Crafts. His work has earned him numerous accolades, including the National Endowment for the Arts fellowship and the Pennsylvania Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts. His legacy as a master ceramicist is firmly established, and his contributions to the field are celebrated by collectors, critics, and fellow artists worldwide.
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