Sculpted By Lifestyle

Image | Lee Nelms Sculpture 1 & 2 2025 | Photography by Lee Nelms

Catalogue | Buy the Work | Room Sheet

Exhibition Statement

This exhibition reimagines the seven sins through an unapologetically Australian lens—less moral judgement, and more reflection on how culture, habit, and circumstance shape behaviour. The works are presented as  “before” pieces capturing raw, unfiltered visages, and seven amplified “after” pieces that explore what those behaviours become when shaped by experience, behaviour, consequence, and time.

Hand-built and altered wheel-thrown forms carry expressive marks and creature-like features, embodying flaws, humour and vulnerability. These pieces ask how lifestyle sculpts us—and how we, in turn, sculpt our own narratives.

Artist Biography

Lee Nelms creates ceramic works that are quirky, character-driven, and often subtly distorted, sitting at the intersection of past and present. Each form emerges from personal experiences and the emotions attached to them, allowing her hands to speak where words cannot. Fascinated by the human face and sculptural expression, she continues to refine a practice that blends emotional resonance with playful physicality.

Lee works across hand-building and altered wheel-thrown techniques, using a range of clays fired in electric, oil, and wood kilns. Her work has been exhibited in a group exhibition and recognised through an Emerging Makers Award and exhibition. She has also been stocked at Feldmark Winter Gallery in Cooma, contributing to the growing public presence of her work.