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(she/her)
Visual Artist
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About the Artist

JJ Lee (b.1969)’s (BFA, NSCAD ‘92, MFA, York University ‘99) mixed media drawings and paintings explore the intersection of Chinese and Canadian cultures by appropriating images from a variety of sources. After residencies at the Banff Centre for the Arts, Lee moved to Vancouver and initiated Lotusland: an Asian-Canadian artists collective. Lee has exhibited extensively in both public institutions such as the Vancouver Art Gallery and artist-run centres across the country. Recently Lee exhibited at the Asian Arts Alliance, Philadelphia curated by Adriel Luis of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center.
She is the recipient of several awards (including Canada Council, the Ontario Arts Council, RBC New Canadian Painting Competition and the Asian Canadian Artists Fund for Visual Arts). Her work is in public (RBC, York University, Canada Council Art Bank) and private collections in Canada and the USA. She is represented in the Magenta Foundation’s Carte Blanche: Painting, a survey of contemporary Canadian painters. She is one of a three person performative drawing collective The Drawing Board. She lives in Toronto with her husband and daughter and is a tenured Associate Professor, Contemporary Issues of Representation at OCAD University. JJ is represented by The Prow Gallery in Halifax NS and Gallery on Queen in Fredericton, NB

  • Ethnic Origins

    East Asian

  • Languages

    English

  • My Disciplines

    Visual Arts

  • Artist Statement

    Through mixed media paintings and drawings, I explore the hyphen between identities and representations that are the result of colonization and immigration. Reconstructing the intersections of Chinese and Western cultures on a flat picture plane, I “mashup” appropriated images from diverse sources with various drawing and painting media. Re-invented and hybrid identities result from these combinations. In visual art, as in language, sometimes meaning gets altered in translation. Three main areas of my research are: The hyphenated identity, Classification: labelling and (dis)-abilities and Collaboration and intersectionality through Drawing

  • What I'm Creating

    I'm creating a mixed media drawing installation based on finding my grandfather's 1917 Head Tax certificate in the attic, while cleaning out my childhood home. This exhibition, In My Yesterday, will be at the Pier21 Museum of Immigration opening May 13, 2023. It will involve drawings on found paper--such as my father's engineering diagrams, or the brown paper used to wrap clean laundry from my grandfather's laundry business. The installation will incorporate photographs, historic artifacts, animations, super 8 films, audio stories and drawings--both digital and traditional--to tell the story of my grandparents' immigration story in six chapters and how it affected me as a first generation born in Canada.

Where I am on my Decolonization Journey

STATEMENT OF TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
Why I Teach:
I believe in art and its social power to initiate change in the world and the strength of unique individual artistic voices. As a passionate activist-artist-educator I support creative visionaries by encouraging lateral thinking and decolonizing strategies through the active use of Wholistic Indigenous Learning Outcomes in the classroom. OCAD University’s Indigenous Learning Outcomes of Respect, Relationships, Reciprocity, Responsibility has helped empower and define my teaching practice:
RESPECT “Acknowledging and respecting self as well as a diversity of peoples, communities, experiences and ways of knowing and communicating”
In my own art research and practice, I look at the intersections that create our identities. In the second-year painting course, “Issues of Representation”, students examine notions of authorship, appropriation, narrative and representation. I stress that it is the concept behind a work of art that gives it resonance. I also emphasize the importance of visual literacy, intention and responsibility for the images that they create. Ideas of how socio-political and cultural dynamics affect their artwork is developed
through class discussions and critiques. A major concept within this course is empathy and presenting
issues from new points of view. Art by underrepresented and non-Western artists are shown as models of alternative modes of representation, encouraging cross-cultural approaches and dialogue. The student demographic has changed remarkably since I started teaching twenty years ago. Recent studies have shown that “students of colour feel uncomfortable engaging in critical identity courses because it positions them as ‘other.’” As a racialized faculty who is actively engaged in ideas surrounding identity, students have said how inspiring it is to talk to have an instructor whose own work addresses these ideas.
RELATIONSHIP “Recognizing our local and global relationships to each other and the land, both historically and n the present”
In my teaching, relationships and communication are the backbone of my practice. In both my art and teaching practices I consciously dismantle hierarchical relationships by building a respective, safe and inclusive community. Through group assignments and a supportive environment, I emphasize the importance of working beside your peers and creating dialogue for future community and support. I aim to provide opportunities for student voices.
As I view teaching as an integral part of my art practice, I believe that art making (my own or my students’) affects how we engage with the world around us. I see myself as both educator and artist,
teacher and student. My vision is to create inclusive, diverse environments that champion the positive impact of art and art education, both in the classroom and with colleagues and peers.
Even the seemingly simple act of observational drawing can transform the way one sees the world. I connect to each student on an individual basis to gauge their needs and support their academic and creative growth. I strive to understand each student’s learning style, whether it is visual, auditory or kinesthetic. Getting to know each student necessarily encompasses embracing socio-economic status, race, gender identity, histories and mental health. In University, we ask students to be innovative and critical thinkers for every assignment and these demands can be overwhelming. My role is to guide students to shift normative n the present”
In my teaching, relationships and communication are the backbone of my practice. In both my art and teaching practices I consciously dismantle hierarchical relationships by building a respective, safe and inclusive community. Through group assignments and a supportive environment, I emphasize the importance of working beside your peers and creating dialogue for future community and support. I aim to provide opportunities for student voices.
As I view teaching as an integral part of my art practice, I believe that art making (my own or my students’) affects how we engage with the world around us. I see myself as both educator and artist,
teacher and student. My vision is to create inclusive, diverse environments that champion the positive impact of art and art education, both in the classroom and with colleagues and peers.
Even the seemingly simple act of observational drawing can transform the way one sees the world. I connect to each student on an individual basis to gauge their needs and support their academic and creative growth. I strive to understand each student’s learning style, whether it is visual, auditory or kinesthetic. Getting to know each student necessarily encompasses embracing socio-economic status, race, gender identity, histories and mental health. In University, we ask students to be innovative and critical thinkers for every assignment and these demands can be overwhelming. My role is to guide students to shift normative n the present”
In my teaching, relationships and communication are the backbone of my practice. In both my art and teaching practices I consciously dismantle hierarchical relationships by building a respective, safe and inclusive community. Through group assignments and a supportive environment, I emphasize the importance of working beside your peers and creating dialogue for future community and support. I aim to provide opportunities for student voices.