Details

First Name

Lee

Last Name

Akins

Nickname

lsakins@gmail.com

Social Media

My Ceramics

In the studio I like to do

Handbuilding

Pottery Wheel

don't use a wheel, love my Shimpo turntable

Clay body

Earthenware

Clay Brand

Laguna R-2

Kiln Type

Electric Kiln

Kiln Atmosphere

Oxidation Atmosphere

Temperature

Cone 02

Glaze

slips, underglazes, homemade glazes, oxides

You can buy my work from

galleries, online website

About Me

Introduction

Hi, I am Lee. I live in rural northern New Mexico. I teach ceramics and work in my studio producing handbuilt textured vessels. I enjoy traveling and photography.

What I Love about Ceramics

The interaction with the materials.

How I started with ceramics

The life drawing class was full my sophomore year in college. So I signed up for ceramics. Fell in love.

What inspires me

Nature and historical pottery.

What I'm working on at the moment

Coil built vessels.

My Artist Statement

My work seeks to combine figurative imagery with the format of the traditional clay vessel.  The vessel has historically been a powerful metaphor for the body, with each part of the pot being named for the corresponding area of the body.  A full lip, a gentle curve of the neck, a rotund belly or a broad shoulder all combine to provide animation to the pot.  Some of my shapes are predominantly male, some are a synthesis of male and female but most are female forms inspired by fertility figures found in most early cultures.  The Venus of Willendorf and the stone carvings of the Cycladic culture are some of the most powerful to me.  My most recent work strives toward an elegant organic form, one that is obviously a hand-made object but has an internal natural order.

My CV

Since receiving a BFA in 1975 and an MFA in 1986, Lee has been an artist-in-residence at The Banff Centre, received grants, scholarships, and awards, and attended workshops presented by noted ceramic artists Peter Voulkos, Paul Soldner, Toshiko Takaezu, John Glick, and Don Reitz during his 43-year career in ceramics.

Lee’s work has been in numerous New Mexico, regional, and international shows, including NCECA’s Continental Divide and Santa Fe Clay’s annual NCECA La Mesa Shows, and solo shows.  His work has been featured in the ceramic books 500 Bowls by John Britt and Electric Kiln Ceramic’s and Hand-formed Ceramics by Richard Zakin, as well as in American Craft and many issues of Ceramics Monthly.

 

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