Jaeok Lee

Ceramic sculpture and installation · Sudbury, Massachusetts

Sisters (2021), a pair of standing ceramic figures in yellow and red skirts with striped sleeves

Hanok, a cloth bojagi pieced from panels drawn in sumi ink

Dory and Me (2025), two bear-faced ceramic figures, one with ribbons in her hair

Talisman panel: a bird, peonies and small ceramic charms on a yellow ground

Talisman panel: pink ceramic peonies and birds set on a pair of drawn black-and-white panels

New Thimble, a large ceramic thimble in red, yellow and blue with a spiral face

Photo Credit: Sang-Jeong Lee

Jaeok Lee makes ceramic and mixed-media sculpture in Sudbury, Massachusetts. Her work explores the essence of Korea's cultural past, reconnecting with tradition to revitalize it and imbuing it with her own values. During a long period of undiagnosed illness she turned to rituals, talismans and beliefs to heal her body, mind and relationships, and that search still shapes the figures, guardians and wall panels she builds today. Her most recent solo exhibition, The Ties That Bind, was shown at Boston Sculptors Gallery in 2025.