Jiyong Lee

Jiyong Lee is a glass artist and educator based in Carbondale, Illinois, known for sculptural work that translates biological forms and processes into blown and cast glass. He has led the glass program at Southern Illinois University since 2005 and has taught at Rochester Institute of Technology. Born and raised in South Korea, Lee trained in the United States and built a practice that joins studio making, research, and teaching.

What kind of artist is Jiyong Lee?

Lee works primarily in glass, treating it as a sculptural material rather than only a vessel medium. His practice often borrows from the logic of biology: repeated units, branching structures, membrane-like surfaces, and shapes that suggest growth or cell division. That approach gives his work a hybrid character, with the clarity and fragility of glass set against forms that feel organic and alive.

In practice, that means glass is not used just for transparency or shine. It becomes a way to model processes such as multiplication, mutation, and reproduction. The finished works can read as scientific specimens, but they are made through artistic decisions about color, scale, arrangement, and surface.

How does his glass work take shape?

Lee’s work depends on the material properties of hot glass: softness when molten, precision when cooled, and the permanent record left by forming decisions. Glass can be blown, shaped, assembled, and fused into clustered structures, which suits forms inspired by cells or organisms. The process often involves building many related units and arranging them into larger systems.

That method matters because it gives the work an internal logic. Rather than producing a single isolated object, Lee frequently builds compositions that suggest growth over time. The viewer sees repetition, variation, and dependence among parts, which mirrors the way living systems organize themselves.

Why does biology matter in his work?

Biology gives Lee a visual and conceptual framework. Cell division, development, and microscopic forms offer a vocabulary for thinking about structure, change, and multiplication. In glass, those ideas become visible as clusters, nodes, and branching forms that feel both precise and unstable.

This connection to biology also places his work in conversation with craft and scientific image-making. It is not literal illustration. Instead, the work uses the language of the lab and the studio together, turning a material associated with optics and display into something that suggests internal life. That shift is part of what makes the work distinctive.

Teaching and influence

Lee’s role at Southern Illinois University connects his studio practice to a broader educational environment. As head of the glass program, he has shaped how students encounter glass as both technique and idea. Teaching in a university setting also keeps the work in contact with experimentation, critique, and technical training.

His earlier experience at Rochester Institute of Technology links him to one of the United States’ major centers for glass education. That background matters because glass artists often move between making and teaching, especially in a field where furnace work, tooling, and studio safety require specialized instruction. Lee’s career reflects that model closely.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Jiyong Lee known mainly as a glassblower?

Glassblowing is part of his practice, but the broader identity is sculptor and educator. The important point is not just the technique used to make the objects, but the way he shapes glass into forms that read as biological and conceptual. His work sits between craft process and contemporary sculpture.

Where is Jiyong Lee based?

He lives and works in Carbondale, Illinois. He is an associate professor of art at Southern Illinois University, where he has headed the glass program since 2005. That university setting has been central to both his teaching and studio life.

What makes his work different from decorative glass?

Decorative glass often emphasizes ornament, utility, or surface brilliance. Lee’s work uses glass to think about growth, repetition, and the structure of living systems. The material still matters aesthetically, but the forms are driven by ideas about biology and scale rather than by decoration alone.