Perth-based artist Jina Lee has been named the recipient of the Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe 2018 ‘Rio Tinto WA Emerging Sculptor Mentorship’.
The $10,000 program was introduced in 2015 to encourage professional mentorships between emerging sculptors and established practitioners over a 12-month period with a number of face-to-face meetings.
Lee selected French artist Nicolas Bertoux as her mentor for the program due to his vast experience in public sculpture, specialising in stone. She travelled to Nicolas’ studio, Artco, in Seravezza, Tuscany for five weeks to develop her skills in stone carving for large-scale sculptures. The beautiful Carrara marble work she created during her time in Italy will be shipped to Australia to exhibit in Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe 2018 from 2 to 19 March.
Jina Lee in Seravezza in Tuscany, Italy as part of the 2018 Rio Tinto WA Emerging Sculptor Mentorship
Jina Lee – Rio Tinto WA Emerging Sculptor Mentorship. Courtesy Sculpture by the Sea
On receiving the mentorship, Lee said, ‘Rio Tinto’s WA Emerging Sculptor Mentorship provided me with a once in a lifetime opportunity to develop my skills and knowledge in the one of the best places in the world for stone carving. It was a dream to be able to work on marble sculptures in the same town that Michelangelo worked and lived.’
Jina Lee – Rio Tinto WA Emerging Sculptor Mentorship. Courtesy Sculpture by the Sea
Lee is a stone sculptor who has exhibited several times previously in Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe (2015-2017), as well as Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi (2015), the City of Melville Sculpture Walk (2014, 2015, 2016) and Swell Sculpture Festival (2014). Her focus is on simplified organic shapes sculpted into a variety of stones, primarily using marble or granite.
Lee has participated at international sculpture symposiums in Japan and produced sculptures for public spaces and private collections in South Korea, Australia and Switzerland. She has been an artist in residence at Greg James Sculpture Studio Gallery, J SHED in Fremantle WA since 2014 and is supported by a local stone business.
