y work is a refection of my life and mirrored inner-self. Often I struggle to meet the responsibility that I have learned as woman, homemaker, mother, wife, and my need as an artist. Struggling and juggling, my two hands spreading wide as if I have multiple arms and hands. My body is heavy as if I am pregnant with my artist dream. I feel like Seed Pods filled with dream. Opening up my Seed Pod shell to spread my wings is what I do in my studio to see all the seeds land on the Earth and grow to be a beautiful flower.

I use common domestic materials and technique such as sewing, washing, drying, starching and ironing for my work. Using stitching as primary drawing media, with sharp pointed needle and soft flexible thread, my fingers are free to make drawing marks on tarlatan and fabric. Marking the images with stitching is time consuming job, which requires patience. I am repeating the ordinary small stitches again and again to bring them up with extra ordinary meanings. Adopting marks from everyday life such as stains, wrinkles, stretching, shrinking, worn out hole and mended hole as drawing marks, the humble material transforms into special marks as if my humble life experience turns into special transformation. Like dance or body language, each transformation of gesture drawing has an individual voice. The small drawings are gathered or sewn together to create a harmony of sounds and gestures, which are translated into visual poetry.

In my youth I shared a room with my grandmother and great-grandmother in Korea. I frequently was awoken by the rustling sounds of hand sewing early in the morning. Like most women of their generation my grandmother and great grandmother did not know how to read or write, but they did know how to express their impassioned thoughts through embroidery with patience. My work is influenced by their graceful endurance with given life and their creativity to transform their thoughts into beautiful embroidery.

he story telling in “Sowing Seeds” is made through personal symbols and transfigured images created by artist Ke-Sook Lee. Using stitching as a drawing media, with common domestic techniques and tools such as sewing, ironing and gardening -- the boundaries of her art making are explored in her intimate and delicate work. These small drawings are combined, incorporated and sewn together in the form of household items, such as pillows, aprons and pot holders. Merging artifacts from domestic life with art, many of the pieces which are created are larger than life in scale -- oversized potholders and gigantic aprons.

The artist says, “For these drawings I recycle old Korean rice paper. While the paper is wet I layer precious crocheted antique doilies in it, stain the paper with earth and then use sewing and tarlatan to complete the artwork. These understated materials from the household become special and endearing with new transcendent meanings in the drawings representing myself as mother, wife, homemaker, artist and woman.”

In "Sowing Seeds," Lee portrays many transformations of herself, representing parts of her body in these abstracted images. Comparing herself to seeds and growing the flowers in the garden, she herself as well as her garden have matured, showing confidence and strength as well as beauty and life. The artist says, "Throughout this drawing process I have experienced refreshing new life along with the freedom to express my emotions as well."