Lee ShinJa (b. 1930) is a pioneering first-generation Korean fiber artist and educator. During the 1950s and ’60s, when working with thread and fabric was considered domestic labor, Lee broke new ground in the evolution of Korean craft. Against the conventions of traditional craft, she experimented with modern formal techniques, driving innovations in embroidery, dyeing, weaving, and tapestry to expand the breadth and depth of the genre, which at the time was still unestablished.

In the mid 1990s, Lee began dividing the surfaces of her works to create panels of independent vignettes in which figurative and non-figurative forms coexist, a stark contrast to her previous pieces where soft curves unite to create organic abstractions. This period also marks the introduction of metal to her fiber works, juxtaposing the hard material with the softness of thread. Lee’s use of metal as a framing device functions almost like a window looking out into an abstracted landscape. In the geometric composition of Open the Horizon II (2003), the mountains and horizon are captured in dynamic geometric lines.