Raina Lee's artwork from tree-house studio to high-end galleries appealing

To get to ceramist Raina Lee's tree house, you enter through an iron gate with a dog warning sign and climb a long wooden staircase that creaks beneath your feet.

- Tribune News Service

You'll then cross a suspension bridge, and you'll hear, “Be careful, it’s very wobbly,” before seeing Lee, 48. There, you'll likely find her with a mug in hand, leaning against the door frame of her tree house and waiting for you to join her at a Japanese-style tea table. Her serene retreat feels like a cabin in a national park, yet it's perched on a slope in Lee's Mount Washington backyard, shaded by Brazilian pepper trees. The studio is home to dozens of her ceramic works, available for viewing by appointment.

Lee's pieces range from small tea bowls ($640) to large moon jars ($4,800), and her works can be found at high-end galleries such as Rhett Baruch in Hollywood and Verso in New York. For Mother's Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas and other holidays, she has sales of smaller, more affordable wares. Every year, Lee's family members get “Christmas ceramics” as gifts from her. “I tried to give vases and cups to my aunt, but she doesn’t use them,” she says. “She put them on top of her fireplace to display. I'm like, 'You know you can just use them. It’s not that valuable.”