A Delicate Note (2020) Sculpture by Cherie Lee

Though well versed in multiple mediums, I've most commonly been described as an 'Eggshell Sculptor', using high-speed engraving equipment to carve genuine (predominantly ostrich) eggshells into intricate and delicate bas-relief filigree depictions.

With a current bent toward topics of disability, poverty, homelessness and the conquering of obstacles, I use medium itself to inform and underscore the inseparable nature of strength and weakness, prodding us to question where that fulcrum lies; uniting substance and subject to emphasize disparity.

Is 'small' more frail than 'large'?  What has more fortitude: youth or age?  Is 'male' dominant to 'female'? At what, exactly?  If I show weakness, did I abdicate my strength?

The words and imagery we use to define our perceptions dictate our preferences and prejudices, and their source and accuracy must be investigated with constant rigor.   After all, our own foundational confidences and insecurities alike are based on preconceived notions and ideas...

What if we're wrong?  

If our beliefs are to be defended, we must be first to question their validity.

The closer one looks at biases, the more focus brings them in balance.  Look close: are poor people weak, or strong?  With honest evaluation, judgments cease to stand firm.  

Seperate-ness erodes.   

At it's most basic essence, my work stresses the boundaries of ordinary matter and substance, questioning, “how far?” before strength must succumb to its weakness.

The egg: life, birth and rebirth in virtually every civilization throughout history, organically serves as metaphor for both the physical and metaphysical human conditions.

My art takes the form of life, asking life, “how strong are we of mind body or spirit?”

It silently poses the same question our universe shouts every day:

How far, before you break? *

My work quietly speaks of strength from positions of weakness, and does so with the voice of Many.

Weakening Strength. Redemption leading to evolution. Emerging steadfast and triumphant,

Uncracked.

(?)*

• Nationality: UNITED STATES
• Date of birth : unknown date
• Artistic domains:
• Groups: Contemporary American Artists