We recently connected with Soonja Cook and have shared our conversation below.

Soonja, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

I was a care giver for all of my life since young age, took care of my disable grandmother, young cousins who were incapacitate to take care of themselves after war. I worked in fish market, sold onions in fresh market in my very young age. I never really had a home that I could hang my coat and lay my head down as growing up. But I alway had my comfort moment with crayons and paper. I drew princesses and princes, Christmas trees with tinsel and dandelion. I sold these to American soldiers and helped my relative with money I made. In my heart, I didn’t know at that time, I wanted to be an artist.
I immigrated to USA 1974, got married, I raised 7 children to become beautiful people, and worked as registered nurse for nearly 30 years in Duke hospital and VA hospital. I retired at the end of 2019 when Covid-19 surfaced.
My opportunity to become an artist became a reality finally and I dive into oil painting.

I guess my mission is to share my love of creating beautiful arts with world and inspire to whom who they have a dream, a dream that keep you alive and keep you stay awake at night, and constantly stirring your heart.

Soona , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a self-taught artist, and have always used my lessons of life as my guidance when it comes to my paint bushes. I enjoy local and national level of workshops to continue to grow in my skills, in order to better capture the dynamism of exterior world reflected in own my heart. Every paintings I create I also create stories, stores of melancholy and nostalgia where we live and breathe every day.

I grew up in post-war Korea where life was not glamorous or elaborate. I helped my family by selling my drawings to American soldiers. Through my struggles under difficult circumstances, I created my own visual world, and it still lives today in my paintings. I sought refuge in soft sky and wild flowers, night sky, bustling city and people in it. I found peace and comfort in the nature. My memories of scarcity and questions disappear into my painted world, a certain ecstatic world of blues and orange that spit like fire.

I am a contemporary realistic oil painter, truly expressionistic with thick texturized brushes and knife, fused with ,Intuition and melancholy,

My arts consist of Seascape, wave paintings, cityscape, nocturnal landscape, still life paintings can be found in

www.lazyrivergallery.com or view in person in Golden Belt Arts, studio #4

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

This is an easy question for me as a fine art artist who have a physical location where client can walk in view my paintings. Sometimes clients walk in while I am painting on my canvas. They can take time to look, feel and make their connection to the scenes displayed on canvas with paints, lights and feel the paintings. I love the moments when they make statement like, ” I have to have this paintings, I know this place”.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I dream of painting while I sleep, what to paint, what colors to put on canvas, I guess you can say I am very obsess with paintings. My goal and my mission as a painter I want to exhibit my paintings in museum world wide, starting from local museums, but before my time is up, I want to have solo exhibition in Korea my home country with some poetry to go with my paintings.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.lazyrivergallery.com
• Instagram: lazyriver-gallery
• Facebook: lazyrivergallery/fine arts
• Other: Golden Belt Arts, Studio #4 800 Taylor Street Durham NC, 27701

Image Credits
Peter Baker Irina Cumberland