Art wrought from numerous knots

When local fiber artist Ed Bing Lee makes his art, he likes it to be flexible - no getting bogged down by machinery, computer automation or bulky looms. For the 76-year-old Philadelphian, 10 fingers and a table do just fine.

Lee's work is on display at the 33d annual Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show, which runs through Sunday. His intricate fiber creations are "definitely in the vein of one-of-a-kind, and that's what this show is all about," says show manager Nancy O'Meara.

This year 195 craft artists - selected from 1,300 applicants - are showing at the Convention Center, in one of the largest displays of its kind. They are joined by 26 South Korean guest artists, all on site to discuss their work. Many media are represented, including jewelry, metal, paper, wood and mixed media.

Lee calls himself a "knotter": He uses thousands upon thousands of knots to make two-dimensional picturelike fiber art or three-dimensional objects or landscapes. "Picnics," his first major series, comprised pictures of picnickers and food items in a style reminiscent of Seurat. Every square inch of each piece required about 500 handmade knots; Lee employs a macrame knot called the half-hitch.

About 15 years ago he began delving into three-dimensional art and since then has produced everything from eye-fooling orchids and ice cream cones to rich, colorful vessels and miniature earthscapes.

Over the last 18 months he has created 30 three-dimensional pieces inspired by chawan, the tea bowl used to mix matcha - powdered green tea - in Japanese tea ceremonies.

He uses a variety of materials, from typical fiber materials like waxen linen and cotton to paper and shoelaces. And while his final products are extremely complex, Lee insists that their creation is not. "It's a very simple process - I just have a board and some paper clips," he says.

Of this new series, he says he was inspired by the fact that, "traditionally, chawans were antique pieces that were revered but still used in ceremonies" - delicate, important items nonetheless employed in everyday life.

The pieces, all approximately 4-by-4-by-4 inches, are based on the general shape of the chawan; each took, on average, three to four weeks to make and about 100 knots for a single rotation around the circumference of the bowl.

The piece that took the longest - six weeks - is a white bowl with a polar bear alongside, the only chawan with an add-on. The bear, he says, is part of his effort to stay current on world issues: "I read that polar bears might go extinct soon and I thought it would be nice to have something that ties me to the contemporary world so it's not just art."

The chawans are on sale at the craft show for $250 to $4,000. In the past he never priced anything below $1,000 because of the amount of time and labor involved. But he hopes this show will get his work into the hands and homes of a wider range of people.

Lee was born in San Francisco and graduated from San Francisco College in 1960. He received a master's in painting and fine arts from Brooklyn College and a master's in art history from the University of Pennsylvania. He came to Philadelphia to get into its booming textile industry and worked as a textile designer, focusing on the engineering of products in terms of usability and durability.

During his time in Philadelphia, he has taught at nearly every art school in the area, including the Moore College of Art and Design and the Art Institute of Philadelphia.

In 2007 he won a Pew Fellowship in the Arts, a $50,000 fellowship awarded annually to 12 outstanding Philadelphia-area artists.

Widely exhibited for decades and considered by many to be at the top of his craft - "the ultra-amazing macrame artist of all times," one local critic called him - he is making his fifth appearance in the museum craft show.

"He has an international reputation," said Susan Shain, who owned the Touches shop in Philadelphia for 25 years and is working on the show. "When you talk about knotters, there's maybe five. . . . He's without a doubt one of them."

For her, besides being a master of his craft, Lee is a role model, too.

"At 76 I hope to grow up to be like Ed," she said.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. today and tomorrow, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at the Convention Center, 12th and Arch Streets. $15 for adults for one day, $20 for two days; $5 for children ages 12 and under. Tickets are available at the door or in advance by calling 215-684-7930. Information: www.pmacraftshow.org.

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