SOPHIA LEE

Sophia builds her work in layers through embroidery, collage, stitching, weaving, and different painting techniques. She crafts textures out of found seed pods, expired cosmetics, junk mail, and discarded plastic bags through labor-intensive processes that take several weeks to complete.

In 2016, being well aware of our environmental impact, Sophia decided to turn waste into something positive, drawing attention to the issue by seeking new possible solutions. Waste has infiltrated every aspect of our lives, despite numerous recycling programs and initiatives, large amounts of garbage and plastic still end up in the landfill, and into our oceans.

Plastic does not disappear from our planet. It can break down over time into tiny pieces called micro-plastics but will always be there, never truly a part of the natural life cycle. When first approaching her work with waste, Sophia turned to the craft of weaving.​
 
To weave is to make a whole, and traditionally, weaving has been a woman’s work and a statement of female resourceful and inventive creativity. Just as threads were once fibers, plastic bags were once polyethylene, and through deconstruction, they could be weaved back together into new material.
 
By questioning modern life’s cycle of production and consumption, Sophia seeks new possible solutions for what happens to all our stuff when its intended use is over, giving back meaning to everyday discards by making
beauty out of the banal. Her body of work is a reflection of a seemingly assured reality that, through consumption, is now at a continuous loss, a call for action to reclaim a meaningful interaction between humans and the environment.

She chose to work with unrecyclable food wrappers, Mylar, and foil-lined plastic to create a new body of work called Flotsam & Jetsam. Amplifying her scope, she began crafting textures made out of expired cosmetic powders, creams, and liquids collected from family members and friends. For her window installation, Beauty in the Periphery, she spent three weeks recycling 800+ coffee lids that otherwise would have ended up in the landfill. The ornamental multipurpose light-feature was used as a window installation and as an interactive walk for public spaces.

Remnant of Ashen Bloom

When Shelter-in-Place (SIP) began in early 2020, I was hopeful because most human activity came to a halt, and I thought our planet was able to take a well-deserved break. Then the mega fires came and swept through millions of acres of trees, trees that have stood witness to centuries. I mourn not just their loss but the loss of their experience. There is no way to count their rings in the ash. I can only paint an impression of their existence.

When trees suffer such a violent death as in fires, where do they go? Do they haunt the ground they left behind? The loss is not merely the trees: but all the micro-organisms in the ground connecting them: their entire communication system is shut down. How much time will it take to rebuild such a biodiverse place? With my lines, I attempt to capture their spectral impression and to share with you this overwhelming sense of devastation.

Along with these small work on paper or wood panels, I also created a mural installation for the Future Tense group show at the end of 2020, just around the 2020 Elections. 

Growing up in California, I’m ever aware of the water situation and the fire season is an annual occurrence. However, in the recent years, these fires grows ever bigger and bigger. It’s a real fear that as summer arrives, fire follows. The drought is no longer limited to our state, but the entire West Coast, including the Canada west. The loss of trees are now uncountable.

Luminous Space  (2019) San Francisco, CA.

These smaller paintings are my studies of the ever shifting light and colors of the fog and water on the California coastline.

In my attempt to become 0-waste artist, I save and use the shredded remnants from In the Garden to create collages of colors and textures, exploring different mixtures of medium and pigments, then layering the result in acrylic paint or encaustics.

Seams of the Fog (2019) San Francisco.

The fog covers and reveals to us glimpses of the city.

Seeds, junk mail, plastic, foil packaging, and cosmetics remain buried underneath layers of beeswax and pigment, then etched away to reveal a hidden intent.

The hazy uncertainty of the collaged surface lives through the intentional, well-defined seams, to question the importance of what lies beneath our manicured environment and what becomes revealed.

Flotsam & Jetsam (2017) San Francisco, CA.

Flotsam & Jetsam is the everyday salvage series. These plastic bags, wraps, and packagings were once polyethylene just as threads were once fibers. After deconstructing the bags, I began weaving them back together to create a new canvas material. 

Weaving has traditionally been a woman’s work, praising feminine inventiveness and resourcefulness, it connects women of the past, present, and future.

The repurposed unrecyclable refuse became the abstract painting of pixelated color fields with life on their own.

In the Garden (2018) San Francisco, CA

The garden is a sanctuary for me, I inherited my love for plants and flowers from my mother.

The series explores abstract patterns that mimic the movement of leaves and petals, through reclaimed material collected from food packaging, cosmetics, and junk mail. Collaged into multiple layers, the refuse creates textured surfaces of bold colors.

Before producing my first commissioned piece in 2014, painting a mural for a private home in California, I was a little intimidated  about creating public art work.

It was my first time working on a larger scale and experiencing how size, space, and human interaction change the scope of a project, becoming essential to the work itself.

Soon after, I began submitting to Calls for Art projects in a public spaces, mostly in California.

In 2017, my designs were chosen for utility box murals in Redwood City and San Ramon, public sculptures in cities across California, light installations in Alameda, and a series of paintings for street planters in Tustin.

At the end of 2019, I painted a 28 feet mural for a condo lobby in the Castro district, and for 2019 and in 2020, I painted mini heart sculptures for auctions benefiting mental health programs at the SF General Hospital Foundation. Also had a chance to paint Adirondack chairs for Dublin, CA & large heart sculpture for Danville, which was auctioned off in 2020 benefiting their art programs. Recently (2021,) I completed another window & light installation for Palo Alto Public Art Microlift project called Little Fish. I’m currently creating a public art/ play for 

When creating public artwork, I seek an immediate response from the audience by choosing literal narratives and a direct interaction while working on-site open for me the opportunity to value my work outside the walls of a gallery.

Projects
dublin utility box- before painting
dublin utility box- breeze of summer flowers

Dublin Utility Art Project 2022: Breeze of Summer Flowers

Located at the intersection of Amador Valley Blvd & Donohue Drive in the City of Dublin, CA, I painted this utility box mural in Sept 2022. I found the experience very fulfilling because it’s located right next to a very active senior center and across the street from a memory care facility. The memory care center has a couple of butterflies on their building, which as everyone knows, I love butterflies, it was perfect match for me, so i had to paint it into my box of flowers too!
dublin utility box

Picture This! a try-valley temporary public art

  1. Play of Fire & Water: Danville, CA
  2. Submarine Portal: Dublin, CA
  3. Fractaled Field,
    San Ramon, CA
This temporary art project is a collaboration between the cities in the Tri-Valley region in the Eastern Bay Area. Each up-cycled wood frames were built by the cities and painted by various artists. I was lucky to be selected for all 3 cities. The frames were up from July to end of September 2022.
garden kaleidoscope- front

Utility Box Mural:

Garden Kaleidoscope 

Dublin, CA 2021

Following the theme of the Secret Garden, I wanted to create a more playful and colorful look at this garden, like through the fractal lens of a kaleidoscope. 

The pandemic has hit everyone hard in different ways. During the time I was painting on-site, many people have stopped to say hello or honked their cars to cheer me on. I hope this mural will brighten someone’s day. 

garden kaleidoscope utility box mural

Little Fish-A community activated art project.

  Temporary installation in Palo Alto, 2021

As the 2020 Pandemic continues into 2021, the Palo Alto Public Arts Progam put out a call for art to engage community and art. My proposal to make origami fish with the public was select in the spring, It took a lot of research to gain the use of an empty storefront. The now closed J Foss store on the corner of Ramona and University is now the site of this installation. 

A website was created in the beginning as part of the community outreach. On the site, there links to the YouTube videos of folding instructions, mail-in or drop off of the folded fish, project goals, etc. The installation will be  up from now until at least end of September and beyond, until the store in rented out again,

The Butterfly’s Love Story Private commission in Danville, 2021

I was contacted after the Heart of Danville auction in 2020 by a lady who lost the bid. We decided to paint her another heart, set in the same Secret Garden storyline, but with Golden Butterflies as the main characters. In this story, the butterflies were being hunted by collectors because they’re so rare. They were guided to the Garden where they found sanctuary. 

Secret Garden The Dog of Danville, 2019

My stylized flower pattern was selected for the first
edition of The Dog of Danville project. It was on
display at a storefront for a month and then
auctioned off to a private collector. 

Adirondack Chairs Dublin CA 2020

Completed in March 2020, this design was
created for the temporary public art project:
The New American Backyard.
This is a continuation of the Secret Garden
storyline. Dogs and cats play daytime
and night-time guardians of the garden, while
hummingbirds are messengers and scouts.

Secret Garden Heart Sculpture Danville, CA 2019

The Secret Life of Rosa the Otter has recently been
auctioned off to a private collector. Rosa is a new
guest at the Secret Garden, rescued by
the residents of the garden when she was an
injured pup.

Let’s Dance Utility boxes of San Ramon,
2018

In San Ramon’s first utility box project, my
designs were selected for a pair of side-by-side
boxes. The theme is on celebrating the arts,
and that, for me, is everything I love and makes a community. Dance, music, visual arts, movies, books, and theatre.

Planter Beautification Project, Old Town Tustin CA, 2018

The planter murals were selected during the
pandemic. I went to Tustin, paint them, and left for the public to discover the artwork, happy to be part of making this small town prettier during these challenging times.

Heart Strings SFGH Foundation

San Francisco 2020

The two mini hearts were made using everyday trash, through collage and acrylic paint techniques. I was thrilled to support the hospital’s mental health programs, the artwork was auctioned and sold to private collectors in 2020.

Ashen Bloom A Temporary Mural Installation

San Francisco, 2020

 

I painted Ashen Bloom in three days, for a last-minute exhibition called Future Tense. 2020 was the year
of the pandemic and BLM, a troubled election, and massive
California fires. This was also the final gallery show before their permanent closure. I paint the piece in memory of
all the trees and animals lost during the fires.

From this installation/ mural, a new series of work came about, Remnants of Ashen Bloom. 

Santa Ana Veterans Village The Blue Wave Bicycle Rack

Santa Ana, CA 2019

This design was based on the idea of the line of a wave. It was the first time I created a design in CAD and
presented it to the board using a 3D printer.

Century Building Lobby Mural

San Francisco 2019

Inspired by the silhouettes of the surrounding hills and the fog covering them, I loved being able to create something to warm the cold building lobby, and in a small way, brighten up the days of its residents.

Peripheral Beauty

Light Installation for Alameda Art Walk

Alameda 2019

I collected over 800 used coffee cup lids that would otherwise have ended up in the landfill. To light the installation, I used a fiber optic light engine and fairy LED lights with remote control for switching the light feature at night-time. On the window floor lay a pile of fallen leaves crafted from reclaimed food and various wrappers.

You can view the light in action on this YouTube video.

We love to hear from you.

Please get in touch to work with Sophia on creating a new collective experience or public artwork. 

EMAIL US

Little Fish

  • a Little Fish, a little hope,
  • another little fish, a little more hope,
  • there is power in little fish, swimming together,
  • building up hope,
  • teaching us love,
  • healing our hearts and
  • warming our souls,
  • come swim in the water with Little Fish,
  • hope you will fold a fish or two or more with me,
  • I challenge our community to be a powerful group of 1000 fish, .chil

My name is Sophia Lee. I’m a Taiwanese-American multimedia artist, creating paintings, drawings, light installations, and public artwork. My art finds its voice in the positive re-contextualization of urban waste and engaging the community to re-think the relation with everyday objects and the impact created by our modern living.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

This window will be an installation of hanging origami fish and light made possible through community involvement. I firmly believe in involving the community in my public art projects whenever possible to inspire action and small steps toward creativity. Thanks to the sponsorship of Palo Alto Artlift program.

INSTRUCTIONS

Participants can fold any of the origami fish found on youtube videos linked on the website. The paper used for folding can be any paper you can find, especially recycled materials such as: junk-mail or shipping papers, food packaging, gift packaging, shopping bags, old magazines, etc.

Project Location: old J Foss shop at 250 University Ave, Palo Alto

Drop off fishes at

Open Tues-Sat. 10am-5pm, Closed Sun-Mon

Mail fishes to

2476 Harrison St,
Electric Snail studio
San Francisco CA 94110

Contact Me

Mail-bulk Facebook Instagram

In 2020, I created a collection of paintings for the new hotel at Hilton Garden Inn, Temecula. At the time, selected artwork from the Luminous Space and Flotsam & Jetsam series was showcased in the guest rooms as prints. The owners liked my work and commissioned a new piece for the lobby walls, the space connecting the lobby/lounge bar to the outside pool area.

Temecula’s beautiful spring blossoms and bright color contrasts captured my imagination, while its dry landscape inspired me to work around the water element to bring some coolness to the heat.When I delivered the panels at the end of 2021, the owners were happy with my work and asked me to create new pieces. I painted another triptych for the hotel entrance and a few more to complete the collection. 

This abstract series is about how we move and inhabit spaces. Like dancing, there is rhythm and bursting energy juxtaposing silent moments. As I try a zero-waste and socially engaged artist, I used urban waste to create the commissioned series, incorporating bottle foils from Californian wine productions.

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