A native of Masan, Korea, Lee Sipe adds something from her Asian heritage to each basket or pot she creates. This cultural legacy places a high value on the beauty and tranquility of nature, tradition, family and sharing with friends. Evidence of this influence is her choice of craft -- baskets being an important part of the meal shared with family and friends -- and the quality of workmanship.

"This heritage helps me to appreciate the unusual beauty in the common, the simple and the ordinary as well as the beauty of form and detail," noted Sipe. "The shapes, textures and colors that I use in my work derive from my childhood exposure to everyday life."

Sipe became a citizen of the United States in 1972. She collects pine needles from her yard in South Carolina and selects and cleans each piece of straw, paying particular attention to the scent and texture. Preferring natural products, she uses traditional dyes found in nature to add color to the pine needles and raffia utilized in her work. On her baskets combining pottery and needles, she uses the slab technique, altering by hand the shape of the clay. She constantly changes the mixture of her glazes and oxides in her exploration of color and texture. Agate and burl wood also are occasionally used in her baskets.

To Sipe spontaneity is critical, and she follows no formula in creating her baskets other than the discipline of order and detail found in her culture. Her designs are delicate and precise but not stiff, combining beauty with function. Sipe's personal satisfaction takes precedence over economics or time.

Sipe's work is in the collection of the Mint Museum of Craft + Design (NC) and The Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum (SC).