ART FROM THE HEART
An Interview with Artist Honey Khor
For this artist, painting is not just a passion. It’s a medium to reach out to those who are in need of a helping hand. Her goal is to give back to charity. She goes the extra mile to reach out to children with her knowledge of art.
The Malaysian artist Honey Khor graduated from the Malaysia Institute of Art (MIA) in 1995, where she majored in Fine Arts after completing her high school education in Penang. When asked about what made her become an artist, Honey with a wide smile on her face replied, “My heart told me to do so.” Her sincerity and passion was clearly evident on her face.
Besides being an artist, she also owns Honey Child Development Centre in Puchong and plays a part as an art teacher at the centre. With more than 16 years of experience in teaching art to children at her centre and various kindergartens in KL and Selangor, Honey is dedicated to keeping her art programs and lessons tailor made to her student’s need and temperament – a vital link in the curriculum.
Classifying her work as contemporary art, Honey’s paintings rarely transcend the humdrum making her work comprehensible and rational. She persistently refuses to submit to grimness. Her works are creative, full of energy and joyous. It’s brimming with hope and harmony. “I love colours and also patterns. Back in college, there was this lecturer who had issues with my style – she claimed I used too much colours. So, she tried to change my method; but little did she know that it was going to be really difficult to separate me from those elements. Personally, I think I was born with the love for colours and my joyful and care-free childhood further accentuated my love for it,” says Honey. “Sometimes, even when I’m a bit down, the colours that I use can seem a bit dull but there’s always colour!
Like every creative person, Honey’s creativity flows like a river. “My paintings tell a story. Even if it’s a plant, a flower or a butterfly, it’s all a part of me. My love for nature has influenced a lot of my work.” Honey who adores dragonflies also mentioned that the little fluttering insect takes her down memory lane, her childhood days. “Whenever I look at a dragonfly, it brings to live that little kid inside of me.”
“My best moment as an artist is when I sit in front of my canvas and paint freely with no worries. It makes me feel as if I’m a piece of art.”
From where does she get all that inspiration? “My inspirations come from every single thing around me. From all that I can touch and feel to the people I meet, they are in some way an inspiration. When I wake up in the morning, I always tell myself that I’m blessed with all that I have, and I’m grateful for this life and I am able to do something that I love to do. That’s just inspiring enough for me”!
This lady with a beautiful soul is a part of The Colors of Cambodia Project in Siem Reap. She offers her talents, knowledge, kindness and warm style of educating the children through art. “When I’m back in KL, my heart is always with those children in Cambodia. Just thinking about them makes me happy because although these kids live in poverty, they are very content with what they have. They take one day at a time, something a lot of people lack these days.”
Back home, Honey enjoys spending time with her two sons. While I was having a chat with her, she mentioned about her first attempt to teach her eldest son about art. “We were sitting at the table and I gave him a piece of paper and told him to do his scribbling on the paper. He knew his limits, where to scribble and where not to scribble. Later on, I actually gave him his own piece of wall in his room that he was allowed to scribble on.” According to Honey, he only scribbled once on the wall although he was given his full rights but then he came up to her and said that he didn’t like drawing on the wall. He wanted paper. I was sitting there thinking how lucky she is to have a son like that! For a moment, I felt sorry my parents. I was quite an artist as a kid!
As with her second son, she went through the same process – the table talk, the handing-over of his “personal space”. “Unfortunately, he worked his magic on the couch and the wall,” she mentions with a chuckle. “I didn’t want to limit their creativity although I had to repaint the walls and send the couch for a good cleaning. I just kept reminding him about his wall. We eventually made a pact with one another.” As a child, Honey claimed that she never used to draw on walls but she was into drawing on soil. “It was like a huge canvas! That was my personal space.”
“I love the way kids do their artwork. As adults, I think we ponder too much on things – we think too much about the rights and wrongs but these kids are like free birds. While we sit there worrying about colour tones and proportions, they’re just letting their emotions out and the purity in them that they convey through their art can’t be compared to anything else in this world.”
“The kids’ that I teach are like little Picasso’s. They do come up with the most amazing things at times and sometimes it seems like I can learn a lot from them,” mentions Honey.
As for Honey, painting is a what-I-see-is-what-I-get medium. There’s one stroke of the brush and her aspirations are there for you to see. “I like to take a closer look at things and I emphasize them in my art. For example, leaves and tree trunks have patterns on them but by taking a closer look, you will see something distinctive in it. There is definitely that one element in any creation that sets it apart from another. That’s how my art is. Each art carries a different message.”
“I started off with oil painting but I’m more into acrylic these days. When I’m practicing on my sketching, I use water colour, charcoal, and pencils. As an art teacher, I think I need to be versatile. I need to constantly brush up on my skills. Till today, I still believe that practice makes perfect. You can’t be a superstar over-night. Have the patience to work through things and you will succeed at whatever you do,” says Honey.
“When getting prepared to do an artwork, I recollect all the events in my life. I clear my mind and pick a topic I’d want to work on at the moment. My attachment with Cambodia is so strong that most of the time, my mind wanders to my experiences in Cambodia. I relive the memories by looking at photographs that were taken in Cambodia and I’ll start my sketches. As my artworks depict mostly on happiness, I never do continue working on them if I’m feeling the slightest bit down. It just won’t turn out right. When you work on something, you need to place your heart and soul into it.”
When asked about her love for art, Honey stated, “It’s always been in me that I can make a living by doing other things. It has always been impossible for me to make a living out of selling my artwork. When my art has gone on sale and someone purchases it, I want that art piece to remind that person about the kind deed that they have done. I want my painting to serve as a sign of gratitude right from my heart. It should serve its purpose as a constant reminder that you have helped provide for a child’s educational need.”
Giving back to the community in Cambodia, that’s the sole purpose for Honey. As for charity works, she has donated the proceeds from the sales of her artwork and the Cambodian children’s artwork to Colors Of Cambodia in order to provide a better future for the children in their country. She has also placed the paintings from her students back in KL for sale. These proceeds also go for charity.
How hard is it to be a full-time artist in Malaysia? “Believe me when I say that it’s really tough! I can’t just sit there and wait for exhibitions and people to buy my paintings. I’ll be a goner by then. I have to balance my life. I need to seek a living by doing my job as a teacher and at the same time, do my part for charity. I can place my painting in a gallery but most places charge a hefty price, a certain percentage from the profit goes to the gallery. As we’re doing this for charity, the earnings will not be sufficient. I have to pounce at every opportunity that I get to showcase the artworks. It’s a tough job but someone’s got to do it.”
“I admire the struggles that artists such as Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin have gone through. They are my inspiration. Times were hard for them and they only became popular after their death. At this age and time, we’re considerably lucky. With the help of media, be it print or online social media’s, word spreads like wild fire. But, at the end of the day, hard work plays a big part in our achievements. Luck plays a very small role. Then again, I love art. I think everyone has a talent in them. We all work hard to achieve our goals and it’s always nice to have someone appreciate your work.”
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