Koo Hon is Butterfield’s September Artist-of-the-Month

Koo’s collection of new paintings, Symbiosis, is on display throughout September.

Join Koo for an artist talk at 6 PM on Friday, September 1st during St. Augustine’s First Friday Art Walk.

With Symbiosis, Koo emphasizes the importance of insects to humans, and how they contribute to the environment. With pollination and decomposition, insects and flowers provide food and life to each other, and there is beauty in the cycle of life and death, giving and taking, between these precious organisms.

She is also particularly drawn to the range of human emotions and facial expressions. In her painting, The Butterfly Embrace, Koo captured a moment with a young girl she met in Panama during a trip to Boca Del Toro. The girl ran up to her to show a bright blue butterfly cupped in the palm of her hand. This gesture and expression on the girl’s face was so pure and innocent, in that instant, deeply moved, Koo knew she had to recreate that moment and paint it for herself.

Most of Koo’s paintings in this series are also inspired by her travels, such as Deer at Dusk at the Flat Branch Nature Park, NC, and the tulips and peony paintings from the botanical garden in Quebec City. Her main inspiration comes from nature and her upbringing in Sarawak, Malaysia, as her parents came from a background of farming and were avid gardeners.

Koo is an award-winning artist and a member of Oil Painters of America (OPA). She studied under David Leffel and Sherrie McGraw and has been involved in numerous shows. She is currently open and accepting commissions.