Saturday, November 14, 2009

Culture Was Easy Then























Copyright 2008 by Koe Sylwester

Into the Pattern























Copyright 2008 by Koe Sylwester

Sabre Dance






















Copyright 2008 by Koe Sylwester

So Much More Than This























Copyright 2007 by Koe Sylwester

Instinct






















Copyright 2007 by Koe Sylwester

A Mother is Made






















Copyright 2007 by Koe Sylwester

Let Go























Copyright 2007 by Koe Sylwester

Birth Day























Copyright 2007 by Koe Sylwester

Boundless
















Copyright 2007 by Koe Sylwester

Madonna & (Inner) Child























Copyright 2006 by Koe Sylwester

What's the Word?























Copyright 2005 by Koe Sylwester

Girl with the Flower Tummy






















Copyright 2005 by Koe Sylwester

Motherhood is Sacrifice























Copyright 2005 by Koe Sylwester

This was the cover art for the May 5, 2005 issue of Eugene Weekly, as shown here:
http://www.eugeneweekly.com/2005/index.html

House Chair-3
















Copyright 1997 by Koe Sylwester

House Chair-2


















Copyright 1985 by Koe Sylwester

Nest Chair























Copyright 1983 by Koe Sylwester

Evidence of Light





















Copyright 1983 by Koe Sylwester

Chair/Woman-3


















Copyright 1982 by Koe Sylwester

Chair/Woman (girl)-2














Copyright 1982 by Koe Sylwester

Chair/Woman-1

















Copyright 1982 by Koe Sylwester

Howling at the Wall






















Copyright 1981 by Koe Sylwester

Symbiotic Tie





















Copyright 1981 by Koe Sylwester

The Antagonist























Copyright 1980 by Koe Sylwester

Cake Box Kite-3























Copyright 1980 by Koe Sylwester

Cake Box Kite-1























Copyright 1979 by Koe Sylwester

Neither Here nor There






















Copyright 1979 by Koe Sylwester

Madonna & Children



















Copyright 1978 by Koe Sylwester

Friday, November 13, 2009

Koe Sylwester

Artist's Statement

I have been making things since childhood. Since 1976, I have been calling “making things” Art.

My “making things” is a journey inward that expresses my thinking and what I have to say. The journey takes place in visual images, both pictures and sculptures.

My work is a visual diary of my life and what I have learned. Although my images express my personal view of things, my themes are universal: motherhood, childhood, life stages, the inner child, emotions, culture, and what is feminine.

I work in different mediums. Usually, an idea will demand its own form of expression to best communicate itself. I draw in pencil or ink, paint with watercolor or acrylic, pyrograph and oil paint on wood, and assemble collage as needed. Or I make sculpture with painted wood, papier-mache, and needlepoint. The medium enhances the message.

Biography:

I was born in 1954 in Seward, Nebraska.

My brother and I made up my nickname “Koe” during our childhood. I began using that name publicly as a teenager.

I have been married to Steven Sylwester since late 1975. We have lived in Eugene, Oregon, since early 1976. We have two daughters.

Professional Resume:

I was a known artist in the mid-1980s with a growing regional and national reputation.

By age 28, I had three major one-person shows of my work: in the Focus Gallery at the University of Oregon Art Museum in 1979, in Koenig Gallery at Concordia University in Nebraska in 1980, and in the main gallery at Maude Kerns Art Center in Eugene in 1982. Additionally, I had been in several group shows at the UO Art Museum and in an art gallery in Eugene that is now defunct. Visual Arts Resources (affiliated with the UO Art Museum) had toured my work throughout the Northwest for two years from 1982 to 1984 in a two-person exhibition.

For years, I had been regularly published regionally in the Willamette Valley Observer (now defunct) as a cartoonist and illustrator, including cover art. Also, I had been published nationally several times in Mother Jones magazine and in High Country News as a cartoonist and illustrator.

Then my husband became terribly sick for two years before having successful major surgery in spring 1986. My oldest daughter was born in summer 1986, and my youngest daughter was born in early 1989.

I began making gallery Art again in 2005.

E-mail: KSylwester@aol.com