Won Madeline Koh is April’s featured artist at the Redlands Art Associaiton.
“I have always remembered painting ever since I could hold a crayon,” said Redlands-based artist Won Madeline Koh, the featured artist at Redlands Art Association for the month of April. Her show “Welcome to My Garden” run through Friday, April 22,
Koh was born in Seoul, South Korea, lived in West L.A. for a while, and called Redlands home for almost 30 years.
“Back in Korea, it was very interesting living with a seasonal palette, but the Inland Empire has the benefit of having access to all types of nature just a short drive away, like Palm Desert or the San Bernardino mountains,” she said.
Her art uses a vibrant color palette that reflects her deep enthusiasm for life and love of nature.
“Nature is her major artistic inspiration, and she loves to visit botanical gardens, nature conservancies, and enjoys long hikes,” her artist statement said.
The pandemic brought even more inspiration from her deep connection to nature.
“During my family’s disconnect with friends and relatives over the past few years, we longed to re-engage with life,” she said. “We started to grow plants and adopt pets, and we found that they gave us immeasurable comfort and encouragement in return.”
Thus, the name of the show was born out of the simple pleasures found during the pandemic.
“My appreciation for what nature has done for my creative and emotional health inspired this show’s theme, ‘Welcome to My Garden.’ To me, a garden can be as small as a pot or as vast as a rainforest,” she said.
Koh mostly works with oil and acrylic on canvas, “but I also express the beauty of our surrounding biodiversity into jewelry so we can always carry them around,” she said.
She describes her goal as a desire to “capture the unique beauty of the Inland Empire garden through a series of sunsets, birds, flowers, animals, etc.”
After majoring in information sciences in college, she continued by studying fashion design. Her painting style was established under the tutelage of Lucille Von Wolffersdorff. Her artist career spans the past three decades and for twenty years she’s had art displayed at Redlands Art Association.
Koh has received numerous awards, including first place at the National Orange Show and at the Loma Linda Fine Art Competition, and third place at the Redlands Art Association Multi Media Mini show.
Besides painting and creating jewelry, she works in multimedia and does pet portraits.
She brings her artwork to local art shows. Last fall she was at the Art for Heaven’s Sake art show.
“My most memorable moments, however, came from my special clients who could reconnect with their heritage and memories through my art. Experiencing this human connection is, by far, the most rewarding part of my career,” she said and added, “I am also grateful for a few of my works to have been used as book covers.”
The art show “Welcome to My Garden” by artist Won Madeline Koh begins on April 2nd at Redlands Art Association.
About Won Madeline Koh
Koh’s art can be found at the Riverside Art Museum and Redlands Art Association.
Redlands Art Association hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday and on Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays.
Instagran: @won_and_only_1
For more information: Visit redlands-art.org or facebook.com/RedlandsArtAssociation.
