Bunting Biennial Ceramics Lecture

The BMA is excited to welcome acclaimed artist Steven Young Lee to Birmingham for the Bunting Biennial Ceramics Lecture. Based in Helena, Montana, Lee draws inspiration in his work from identity and place. “As the son of immigrant parents, I am often situated between cultures,” Lee said. “Living and working in metropolitan centers as well as rural communities has raised questions of identity and assimilation. As a second generation Korean American, my identity has felt neither fully Korean nor American, and it is through my work where I investigate topics of race and belonging.”

Lee has exhibited and lectured internationally and in 2004-2005, spent a year working and researching in Jingdezhen, China, and Seoul, South Korea. He served as the Resident Artist Director of the Archie Bray Foundation for sixteen years from 2006 to 2022, where he maintained an active studio practice, along with orchestrating an organization devoted to excellence in ceramics. Lee’s work has been collected by many major public and private collections including the Smithsonian Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Four Seasons Hotel in Seoul, Korea.