Claudia Lee
(n.d.) born in New York, lives in Liberty, TN
Literary Bird, 2009
assemblage and artist made paper, 8 x 8 x 3.5 inches
Gift of the artist, 2017
Lee moved to Tennessee in 1967 where she began handweaving, spinning and dying yarn. She also started the Overmountain Weavers Guild and served as Tennessee’s representative for The Handweaver’s Guild of America. Her paper is handmade from sustainable raw plant materials, many of them locally grown, cooked, beaten into pulp, and formed into sheets of paper. Her studio is a working/teaching facility that welcomes visitors and students. She is the author of Papermaking; included in 500 Handmade Books: Inspiring Interpretations in a Timeless Form (both published by Lark Books), and represented in over 20 additional books, three published in 2008. She is a two time recipient of a Master Artist Apprenticeship grant through the Tennessee Arts Commission and in 2011, Lee designed the Tennessee Governor’s Arts Award. Her work can be found in the collections of the Arrowmont School of Craft, the Southern Highland Guild, the Wilson Collection at the Nashville Public Library, and the James Walker Library, Special Collections at Middle Tennessee State University.
I came to papermaking after 20 plus years as a textile designer and weaver. There is something sensual, luxurious, and full of history about textiles. I love the way that the addition of fiber art can warm a cold room and make it feel welcoming. – Lee
