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Artist Name

Karen Lee

Born: 1991

Hometown: Los Angeles, CA

Based in: Detroit, MI

Karen Lee is a designer of objects and materials and is currently based in Detroit, MI. Her current body of work engages in objects that redefine their roles in the domestic landscape. Karen leverages both woodworking and vessel making processes to explore new and unexpected forms of empathetic systems. Because vessels serve as loaded social and cultural objects that typically act as an intermediary between people and space, what happens when their intended use is obscured or reconfigured? What sorts of new space or cultural realities are created from these formal investigations?

Karen holds a BFA in Textiles Design from the Rhode Island School of Design and MFA in 3D from Cranbrook Academy of Art. She has exhibited work in Portland for the 2018 Portland Design Week, Detroit for 2019 Detroit Month of Design with Form & Seek, and New York City at the 2019 International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF). Her work has been featured on Sight Unseen and Dezeen. Karen also has work in the permanent collection of the Cranbrook Museum of Art.

IG: @bodegadog

 



More About Karen Lee

Question IconWhat are 3 words that best describe your work?

Ambiguous - Playful - Sincere

Question IconWho are some artists that have influenced your work?

Constantin Brâncuși, Isamu Noguchi, and Anni Albers

Question IconWhat is the most important tool when creating your work?

A very sharp saw blade or a wooden lathe depending on the project.

Question IconWhere do you go for inspiration?

Strange systems


Credentials

Awards

Cranbrook Art Museum Purchase Prize

2020

ICFF Constellation Award

2019

Gere Kavanaugh Design Merit Scholarship

2019