Orange Seed Segmentation, 2009; acid etched glass



Purple & Green Embryo Segmentation hot sculptured, cut, assembled glass 5.5" x 11.5" x 8"

Purple & Yellow Segmentation hot sculptured, cut, assembled glass 8" x 12" x 6.5"



Orange & Magenta Embryo Segmentation hot sculptued, cut, assembled glass 6.5" x 12.5" x 7"

Jiyong Lee’s Segmentation Series is inspired by his fascination with cell division. He works with glass that has simultaneous transparency and opacity; two qualities that metaphorically represent the clarity and mysteries of biology.




Homage to DNA, 2008; acid etched glass; 14½

Jiyong Lee is an assistant professor at Southern Illinois University Carbondale where he teaches as Head of the Glass Program. Lee was born and raised in Korea.

The deceptive simplicity and understated intricacy of Lee’s compositions represent the contradictory relationship between clarity and complexity found within life. Similar to the way “cells start to segment and become a life,” the uniquely refined transclucent laminated glass surface suggests the mysterious qualities of cells, and on a larger scale, the ambigiuity of our temporal existence. As the viewer moves around Lee’s objects the play of light transforms the sculpture into startling new forms which play on our perceptions and our expectations.

Ji Yong Lee