Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do.

I am Kacie Lees– a Chicago-based artist who explores relationships between natural phenomena and human perception via neon, metal, and print.

When did you begin working with neon?

Bending neon is a jester’s game. You are in a continuum of juggling, measuring, and dancing with fire, electricity, glass– working three steps ahead to eventually fold together your completed form. I began working with neon at SAIC in 2007 and learning from Greg Mowery. I took a break through grad school and came back to rent time at glass studios in NY around 2014. Coming back to the craft totally sucked me in– I could see it in a new light, I could see bending as an unrelatable craft practice that I get to define by making.

What is something that continues to influence your work?

I am continually inspired by cosmology and engineering. When studying how light works in neon signs for my book, Neon Primer: A Handbook on Light Construction (Plazma Press, 2021), I learned about the formation of our solar system and the origins of space and time. This source of information has become key to my practice, driving the unifying concept that we as humans were once part of an explosive hot mess of subatomic particles eager to fuse. How will matter change as time moves forward, and how will we grow from here?

Is there a phrase or idea you can think of that feels especially relevant to your practice or that resonates?

“If you are using your muscles, you are doing it wrong”– this is something I say in the classroom a lot because when glass starts to get to a flexible state, people stiffen up and prevent the glass from moving with gravity. Any extra force put into the glass by using your muscles is stored as stress– weakening the bent section and causing further breakage. “Time is cumulative. Heat is cumulative. Gravity is constant”– when we think of evenly heating all four sides of a hollow glass tube, we can add time in the flame which adds heat, but we are constantly observing how that time and heat enable motion in the glass due to the response to gravity.

What is your studio or workspace like?

Since bending neon takes specialty fires and equipment, I often rent time to work at neon schools all over the country. If I have a show in NY or LA, I make work there. For experiments and color tests, I’ll make samples on my lunch break at SAIC and share them with the class to show elements of real life research and professional practices. I have a 49 square foot shop at home where I do assembly, packing, and writing.

How important is experimentation in your work?

Experimentation is the core of my practice. Through making my work, I learn about the world, about materials, and about relationships. I believe art shows us how the world is connected– so research and experimentation helps me to find connections to other folks, histories, and processes.

What is something you’ve always wanted to do and are working towards achieving?

I have always wanted to work with PLASMA! Plasma is the fourth state of matter that is loosely defined as a body of electrified gas– so neon already qualifies as plasma contained in a hollow tube. When plasma is discussed in the glass world, we are talking about the container for the electrified gas being a vessel with only one electrical pole that tries to ground to the air outside of the vessel. The luminous plasma creates tendrils and unpredictable visual currents and colors through mixtures of gases and pressures. (Insert nerd emoji).

What was the last thing you changed your mind about?

Weightlifting. I am so into it now! I wanna be Arnold!

What gives you hope?

I find hope in acts of compassion and empathy.

Could you share some recent, current, or upcoming projects you’re working on?

This Fall I am teaching the first-ever Graduate Neon course at SAIC, and this Spring I am co-teaching another first-ever Neon Light and Ceramics course with Salvador Jiménez-Flores. Bridging neon with other media is a goal of mine and the interdisciplinary ethos at SAIC is the best place to do it. This October I am participating in a two-person show with Daniella Thatch at R&D in Madison, WI called, “Good Earth Ground,” that features works addressing electricity including neon and some recent glass projects I made at the Corning Museum of Glass Artist in Residence at the Studio in March and April of this year. I am also curating a group show about light at the School of Visual Arts Chelsea Gallery in NYC featuring works that emit, reflect and refract light via neon, holography, photography, projection, and sculpture, opening September 1. Big year!

Interview by Paul Fitzpatrick