About Seoul Sister Studio
About Jee
Jee is the ceramicist behind Seoul Sister Studio, based in Healdsburg and as of July 2023, Windsor, CA. After a career in engineering and design, she chose clay as her artistic medium, drawn to its grounding power. As a material of the earth, Jee’s goal is to share the joy of this visceral connection through her pieces.
As a home chef, with deep appreciation for the culinary arts, much of Jee’s recent work focuses on bespoke tableware for award-winning fine dining restaurants. Drawing on her design on and engineering background, she integrates multi-functionality into her pieces, allowing them to serve various purposes while maintaining a small storage footprint. Her modular designs offer flexibility to create larger, cohesive arrangements from smaller pieces, adding unexpected layers to her table art.
Learn more about Jee in the Q&A in her former home studio here.
About the Process & Design Philosophy
Fortunately (and unfortunately), ceramics is a highly process driven activity. There are at least eight active steps to make any piece of pottery, from weighing and wedging the clay to final firing, and that does not include the inactive time of waiting for the clay to get to the optimal state and checking on items to make sure they are drying properly. Porcelain is fussy and requires more attention than other clay bodies. Jee’s process includes the additional time consuming steps of carving and texturing her pieces and cleaning up those areas. Her glazing process is often meticulous. She uses color sparingly in a supportive role, so that the foci of her pieces are texture and carving. On average, a single piece will take ten weeks before it is ready to be loved.
Jee has always been captivated by reductive sculpture, drawn to the merciless process and often awe-inspiring results it produces. The act of removing material to reveal a finished form requires deliberate, irreversible actions. She was particularly moved by the translucence of Daphne’s fingertips in Bernini’s masterpiece.
Although working with clay is more forgiving than carving stone, Jee’s recent work evokes the principles of subtractive sculpture. Often starting with a wheel-thrown functional vessel, she examines its key features and carves away material to reveal an object that feels true to its essence. Unlike traditional sculptures, her works are designed to be touched and used.
Jee’s work is guided by functionality, balance, and joy. These themes are illustrated in irworobondo, a culturally significant Korean painting often seen on folding screens in royal settings. The painting depicts the sun, the moon, and five mountain peaks surrounded by towering trees, with a river flowing through rocks. It captures the inherent balance in Nature, where rocks unsuccessfully stop the river’s flow, while the sun and moon provide constant light. Park’s work incorporates this balance, combining utility, contrasting surfaces, and highlighting intricate carved designs.Jee is drawn to reductive sculpture because of its merciless process and often awe-inspiring results.
About the name
Jee’s friend, Sunhee who is also Korean, calls her “Seoul sister” as a nod to their cultural connection.