Jessica Thompson-Lee, Untitled, 2017, bronze with marble base, 12 x 13 x 5 inches,
Courtesy of the artist, © Jessica Thompson-Lee.
Life as an Artist: Making it Work in Kansas City
Artist Panel
Cheryl Eve Acosta
Debbie Barret-Jones
Angelica Sandoval
Jessica Thompson-Lee
Desiree Warren
Thursday, September 28
5:00 p.m. Cash bar
6:00 p.m. Panel discussion, moderated by Barbara O'Brien,
Exhibition Curator and Executive Director of Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art
Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, in cooperation with the Kansas City Chapter of National
Written by Barbara O'Brien, Exhibition Curator and Executive Director of Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art
Jessica Thompson-Lee inhabits a small studio space at the Belger Crane Yard Studios that belies some very big ideas, starting with her "lineage of art making practice." Her father, a retired Hallmark graphic designer, now shares his knowledge of casting and metalwork with Thompson-Lee. "When I was growing up, I was interested in art, but I never did art with my dad. It's only recently part of our relationship."
Thompson-Lee works in the traditional sphere of lost-wax bronze casting mounted to a marble base. Her elegant forms, ranging from thirteen to eighteen inches in height, interpret her unique method of transforming fluid porcelain slip in the language of bronze. "I am constructing the mold making process; turning slip into the clay. I kept the idea of the slip and making unique things. I draw onto a plaster slab. I am not building; not throwing; but drawing with clay." Thompson-Lee files and sands the cast forms. "The bronze fights back," she says. Mounted on solid black marble, the sculptures connect with a classic viewing experience that is in playful dialogue with their open, organic forms.
Thompson-Lee draws inspiration from forms found in nature, especially caves and coral-neither of which she has experienced firsthand. "I look at a lot of caves. The inside of a cave is just beautiful. There is net fungus that literally grows in a net form. I look at a lot of coral and forms from the ocean-diatoms and microorganisms. I experience them through the reproduction of images...a mediated experience."
To my eye, the compositions in the three untitled works on view (all 2017) relate to the spine and the stance of a human figure finding balance against the forces of gravity. Thompson-Lee, a museum educator, defers to the viewer. "So much about contemporary art is about the viewers' experiences. When you title a piece you are planting an idea in a person's head. Everyone comes with different experiences, and their interpretation of a piece of art shows that."
Jessica Thompson-Lee, Untitled, 2017, bronze with marble base,
Courtesy of the artist, © Jessica Thompson-Lee.
Jessica Thompson-Lee, Untitled, 2017, bronze with marble base,
Courtesy of the artist, © Jessica Thompson-Lee.
Jessica Thompson-Lee, Untitled, 2017, bronze with marble base,
Courtesy of the artist, © Jessica Thompson-Lee.
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