Sharing by Celia Ko

In April we have had Celia Ko  (CSULB BFA, HKU MA) to share with us her background and sources of inspiration for her projects, and her exploration of her family history, while looking at how all three nourish and strengthen her work.

Celia Ko, is a well-known artist and art educator who exhibited in both Hong Kong and overseas. She received formal fine art training in Southern California with extensive knowledge in drawing, painting, print-making and art history. While she considers herself primarily an oil painter of the figurative and portraits, she adopts installation, mix-media, 3D objects and photography for her conceptual creations which constitute her recurring theme of autobiographical quest of identity. Her work demonstrates her diverse yet intense interests and considerations in painting the perceived and the reconstruction of memory.

Ko worked with the most influential multi-cultural/community mural organization SPARC in Los Angeles after her graduation and co-created her mural with A. Moctezuma in Long Beach (USA). She brought her Southern California mural knowledge and experience to Hong Kong, giving public lectures on Muralism and to give Hong Kong Museum of Art their first community mural project as well as numerous public and school education mural programs for Hong Kong Housing Authority, Hong Kong Youth Art Festival, Hong Kong Education Bureau, etc., training both teachers and students.

Ko is a visiting lecturer at various art and design schools for more than a decade including Hong Kong Baptist University, HKU SPACE, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (HK), SCAD, Hong Kong City University, etc.

Ko is also a recipient of the Freeman Foundation Fellowship (USA). She was invited as the Artist-in-Resident at Lingnan University of Hong Kong. She has held 7 solo exhibitions and participated in numerous group shows. Her work is collected by Hong Kong Museum of Art and private collectors both locally and overseas.