“Ode to Seed” (2024), thread, handmade rice paper and mixed media, 7 1/2 x 10 x 2″, 168 pages. (Extract from an original book comprised of hand-stitched thread, fiber remnants from previous work, sewn on handmade rice paper, 180 pages.)
A quietly dramatic odyssey of triumph
Ke-Sook Lee’s “Ode to Seed” is an exquisite distillation of the foremost themes and metaphors of the artist’s life’s work in the form of a delicate sketchbook. The book traces “a story about a Seed and its dream journey to be born as a live plant,” according to Lee, an eminent Kansas City artist now resident in Berkeley, California, who employs her characteristic materials of fabric, thread, rice paper, ink and watercolor to take viewers on a quietly dramatic odyssey.
It begins with the seed’s struggle to take root in the earth, enduring the winter’s cold, snow and darkness before the warm rays of spring engender the stirrings of life. Struggle gives way to growth, fueled by a determination not just to survive, but thrive.
“Ode to Seed” employs the artist’s familiar lexicon of embryonic ovals representing the seed, and soft geometric forms and watery color fields representing the earth and the elements. Taking nature’s beauty as a source of solace and inspiration, these basic components are subject to multiple variations, including a chain of ascending ovals like a flip book animation in works such as “Lifting all possible” and “Beyond Possible,” connotating aspiration. Occasional cutouts and overlays lend dimension and subtle color juxtapositions.
Lee’s roots are in figurative painting, but as her work evolved, she adopted an abstract minimalist vocabulary rife with allusions to the body. Her use of fabric remnants and the traditional skills of sewing and embroidery are key to the work’s content. All three express a connection to family. As she notes in her statement, “It is as if I found a piece of fabric once belonging to my grandmother: the tiny strings of thread dangling on her worn skirt, bringing back memories of her passion for sewing and embroidery, which in turn possessed her hopes and dreams.”
The fabric remnants, with their allusions to bodies clothed and adorned, endow the work with a compelling intimacy. The artist’s delicate touch animates all these pieces, with their tiny stitches and the raveled edges of age and repeated handling.
Lee is a mother, grandmother, daughter, granddaughter, Korean American and internationally exhibited artist. In fact, the seed’s journey represents her own, as reflected in titles such as “Over that Ocean to this Ocean” and “From that Culture to this Culture.” And then there is the waiting for all her hard work and determination to pay off, embodied in “Dreaming All Winter Long,” “Waiting and waiting” and “The Light coming through.”
“Ode to Seed” is filled with allusions to feminist themes of woman/nature alignment, the tasks and objects of the domestic realm, and the caretaking — of her children, grandchildren, mother and husband, not to mention her garden —which has been a constant in her life.
It is at heart, an autobiographical story, encompassing all the struggles, dreams, desires and ultimate
triumph of Lee’s will to prevail as an artist and independent woman. Her journey concludes with her “Standing on her own feet,” and, at last, “Bursting with her whole being.”
All of us who know Lee’s work have been the beneficiaries of her arduous journey, and, thanks to
the genius of her vision, her translation of it into works of incomparable beauty, inspiration and wisdom.
“Ode to Seed” is a print on demand Blurb book. To learn more or place an order, visit www.ke-sooklee.com/links01.html
Works from “Ode to Seed” will be on view at the Volland Foundation, 24098 Volland Road, Alma, Kan., from Feb. 1 – March 30 as part of the exhibit, “And Now by Hand: Ke-Sook Lee, Margo Krenn, SunYoung Park.” For more information, vollandfoundation.org
All images courtesy of the artist
Photos by Jon Scott Anderson
