Artist statement

 

 

Lee Drake is a jewelry artist, metalsmith and storyteller. With words spoken in texture and form, and sentences crafted from fractals and fissures, Lee’s storied pieces reclaim adornment as personal connection with the raw forces that shape both wild and human nature. Drawing from the beauty, struggle and resilience of the human experience, Lee’s work aligns the ancient with the modern to create emotional landscapes with wood, metal, and stone.

 

 

Each piece is hand crafted by Lee from sterling silver, gold, and precious and semi precious stones. In his work, Lee uses traditional metalworking techniques, such as layering and forging, while also adding accents of texture and patina. Using recycled metal, ivory repurposed from old piano keys, and reclaimed Pacific Northwest hardwood root burls – Lee both celebrates and grieves the life-cycle of his materials, forming a deep personal relationship with the people, places and processes that touch the art he creates.

 

For Lee, the journey of each piece of jewelry is a practice in presence, creating the conditions for those rare moments of rapture where inner experience and outer expression align. Initiated into the art of jewelry making by Heyoka Marrifield, a Cherokee shaman, Lee then went on to attend Revere Academy of Jewelry Arts in San Francisco. Lee’s work integrates these professional influences with his personal exploration of experiencing the sacred in the mundane – creating pieces that are ephemeral yet enduring, reverent and rugged, unique yet universal – all the while mirroring the complexity of what it is to be human in the modern world.