Lee Persell, Ceramicist
21st Annual It’s Only Clay opens November 6, 2026
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ARTIST BIO
Lee Persell lives and creates her work in Fridley Minnesota.
She fires both in an anagama wood kiln and gas reduction.
She attended the University of Minnesota for 6 years. She currently is the Ceramics Studio Manager at the Minnetonka Center for the Arts and teaches multi level ceramics classes.
She has always been intrigued by how edges define the whole. How shape and texture move and play with each other to enhance one another. And how all of this comes together from the potter thru the fire and is transformed into an expression of her experiences. Because life is in the details and so are the pots she makes .It is truly in her pots that you come to know her.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Life is in the details and so are the vessels I make. What intrigues me is what happens (that point of change) when the foot meets the body and the body meets the lip of the pot. It is in these meetings, these details, that I find the pleasure in working with clay.
Form: I tend toward simpler forms and allowing the form of each piece to speak in its own way. To me the most meaningful factor lies not how complex a form is, but how intriguing. This intrigue emerges in the tactile experience of handling each pot, in the subtleties of its apparently simple form, and how it draws inspiration from the curves, line and surfaces of the body.
I have always been intrigued by the transition zones where the top meets the body and how the body meets the foot. These transitions contribute additional layers of interest and meaning to how the form converses with the techniques of glaze and firing in each individual pot.
Glaze: Subtle variations in how glaze is applied can completely transform the tactile expression of materials and form. In many of my pieces, I use matt glazes to bring out subtle details. Unglazed or thinly glazed work might speak to me about texture in a particular way, allowing the form I make to really come through. At other times, a glaze that is very thick alters the form in ways that a thin layer could never hope to.
Further elaboration comes in the transitions between smooth and rough texture or between regions of thick and thin glazing like the transition within the form – where the body meets the foot. These choices bring about different expressions from the same piece.
Firing: This choice is the final opportunity to develop meaning in my interaction with the piece to the surface. I like how the different uses of the firing process continue the conversation between myself and the clay.
The addition of wood firing has expanded my vocabulary and deepened my conversation between the pots and their firing, leading to a richer experience. A vessel is such an intimate thing – we hold them and raise them to our lips, caress and use them daily.
A vessel or pot to me is a tactile or sensual experience. It is in these experiences that you know the maker – the potter in a tangible way. I have always been a tactile person; I need to touch and feel the weight, the edges, the exploration of the surface…
..And that is why clay is the vehicle of my expressions. Life is in the details, and it is also in the clay. Lee Persell
