Brennan Lee
he/him
Berkeley, California, USA
Brennan Lee is a jeweler and sculptor living in Berkeley, CA. His background is originally in classical singing, having received a B.A. in Music from Willamette University in 2013. There, his understanding of the self and its creative practice was profoundly shaped by working in a field where the body itself is the medium. This led to a passion for jewelry, where the body and the artwork leave indelible marks upon each other. Brennan’s preferred mediums are bronze and sterling silver, employing lost wax casting, 3D modeling, and fabrication as his primary tools. His work draws inspiration from Korean history and Victoriana to explore modern-day themes of cultural belonging. Recently, he has expanded into small sculpture and ritual objects, always informed by and dependent upon physical interaction with the body. Brennan has served as a wax worker, mold maker, and bronze caster at Artworks Foundry in Berkeley since 2023.
“Recently I’ve begun working on a new sculpture series that captures traditional Korean knots, maedeup, in metal. Knots are fixed forms that nonetheless carry potential for infinite transformation. A knot can hold a practical function and/or an aesthetic one. To tie a knot, or to untangle it, one must pay attention to how the internal form becomes external. A knot is like an ouroboros in its infinite becoming. Envisioning knots as an analog for the body itself, and reinterpreting them outside of their historical context, has allowed me to draw connections to my own experience as a transmasculine, biracial Korean-American.”
How does your work relate to the theme of flourish(ing)?
“This piece directly references several elements of my Korean heritage. The cup and stand are loosely based on offering cups used in jesa, an ancestral rite that honors deceased relatives through offerings of food and drink. The knotwork and tassel are an interpretation of norigae, a Korean accessory typically worn on traditional women’s clothing.
I began working on this piece during the early days of my gender transition, when I found my relationship to some of my family members suddenly shifting. Here, the offering in question is not to my ancestors, but to myself: both the current and ancestral parts of me. It is a reminder to myself that my cultural heritage cannot be gatekept by any one individual, but is an inherent and essential part of me. It is a reminder that my femininity and associations with womanhood are something that I’d like to honor and pay my respects to even as they begin to take a more historical place in my life. It is also an insistence that I must “fill my own cup,” so to speak, in order to flourish as the person that I want to be.”
"An Offering", bronze and sterling silver, 4"Lx4"Wx7"H, Brennan Lee, 2025How does your creative practice allow you to flourish (grow, thrive, blossom)?
“My creative practice is very tied to my relationship with my own body. Working previously as a performing artist, my body acted as the vessel for an ephemeral moment of creative expression. Although I no longer perform, I still see the act of creating, and the work that I create, as an extension of both my physical and spiritual self.
I began working at a bronze art foundry in 2023. As an informally-trained metalworker I have always leaned into free resources, community skill-sharing, and on-the-job training to further my creative practice. Joining a foundry marked a special opportunity for me to try larger-scale casting and to expand from jewelry into sculpture.
Unexpectedly, foundry work fundamentally changed my relationship to my body and what I felt physically capable of. The work is hazardous, hot, physically taxing, and on a scale I had never fathomed before. I found myself surprised at the existential questions that arose from a day spent pouring 2500lbs of bronze. In the heat of a bronze pour I felt that I was distilling myself down to my essence, and what remained was something very different from what I’d previously shown to the world. This shift in self-perception ultimately led me to begin my transition, which in turn opened doors to new self-expression and creativity that I’d previously kept closed. This is the constant exchange between myself and my practice: a movement toward growth, self-actualization, and becoming as told through the act of physical creation.”
As a queer+ artist, what would you like to see and/or what do you need in order to flourish during this time?
“The vast majority of the world’s bronzes are made by group effort, but some of the most skilled artisans will never be recognized for their work. Many thanks to the Artworks Foundry crew who have been remarkable collaborators, mentors, and friends.”
“I’m writing this in late-September, shortly after an extreme right wing conservative shot and killed another extreme right wing conservative. I’m currently watching the aftermath: a rapid increase in violence against BIPOC, disabled, and transgender people. Witnessing the USA and the world at large spiral deeper into fascism makes it difficult to imagine what it could look like to flourish in this world. There are some days when I don’t feel creative enough to be able to envision a future in this world at all.
At the same time I’m heartened by looking back at history and recalling the ways that our elders found to persevere amidst terrible times. I was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, and I’m especially proud of our queer Leather culture and history. Lately I’ve been reflecting on how the Leather community stood at the forefront of safer sex education during the AIDS crisis, at a time when the government was actively working to erase us. It’s so powerful to be faced with such a deadly and terrifying moment in time and rise to meet it not by isolating, but by insisting upon the importance of safe intimacy, joy, and play.
In a time of increasing vitriol toward queer and trans people, I find solace in the ways that we’ve always found to bridge the gap between our lived experiences and provide each other with mutual aid. Pleasure and connection and safety indeed do feel as essential in this moment of crisis as I imagine they did 40+ years ago.
So while I’m not sure exactly what I need to flourish, I believe that it begins with community, and with insisting upon the importance of telling our stories. Nina Simone said “an artist’s duty…is to reflect the times,” and I feel that calling very strongly. .”
Anything else you would like to share about this work? This can be an important part of the process, sourcing materials, or research.
[queerphoria]v4 @ ECU Symposium
