Born in Seoul, Kyong Burke spent her early life in South Korea, before moving to the United States in 1981. Over the next few years, Kyong traveled and lived in many different places, until 1990, when she moved to Houston, Texas, with her husband and two children. Since then, she has called Houston home.
Although her life's dream was to be an artist, Kyong kept busy with her family and her job, where she worked with special needs children for over 14 years. For much of her life, painting was something she had to make time for, a self-taught hobby practiced in her limited spare time. But, in 2010, she decided to enroll at the Glassell School of Art, a decision that would set her on the path to becoming a full time artist. For the next four years, Kyong polished her skills at Glassell, and learned new techniques to push her artistic boundaries.
She is a visual artist who enjoys experimenting with different medias and styles,
creating meaningful and expressive paintings that blend elements of the abstract with realism. Kyong's paintings are part of many private collections. Her watercolor and acrylic paintings have been selected to exhibit in various juried exhibitions, including charity events.
Artist Statement
My artwork pairs relatively ordinary subjects with abstract, expressionistic elements, to evoke shared meanings through simplicity. For many years, I painted with watercolor, capturing slices-of-life through a lens of realism. In my development as an artist, I've learned to loosen up, relax, and relinquish control. I began incorporating different mediums and styles into my paintings, particularly acrylics and watercolor paints. Today, I approach each subject with an experimental style that blends realism with contemporary techniques and textures. There's still an element of realism in many of my pieces, a nod to my artistic roots, only now, it's drifting, free, in abstraction.
Although her life's dream was to be an artist, Kyong kept busy with her family and her job, where she worked with special needs children for over 14 years. For much of her life, painting was something she had to make time for, a self-taught hobby practiced in her limited spare time. But, in 2010, she decided to enroll at the Glassell School of Art, a decision that would set her on the path to becoming a full time artist. For the next four years, Kyong polished her skills at Glassell, and learned new techniques to push her artistic boundaries.
She is a visual artist who enjoys experimenting with different medias and styles,
creating meaningful and expressive paintings that blend elements of the abstract with realism. Kyong's paintings are part of many private collections. Her watercolor and acrylic paintings have been selected to exhibit in various juried exhibitions, including charity events.
Artist Statement
My artwork pairs relatively ordinary subjects with abstract, expressionistic elements, to evoke shared meanings through simplicity. For many years, I painted with watercolor, capturing slices-of-life through a lens of realism. In my development as an artist, I've learned to loosen up, relax, and relinquish control. I began incorporating different mediums and styles into my paintings, particularly acrylics and watercolor paints. Today, I approach each subject with an experimental style that blends realism with contemporary techniques and textures. There's still an element of realism in many of my pieces, a nod to my artistic roots, only now, it's drifting, free, in abstraction.