
Hi! I'm Santha Koonce.
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Artist
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Art Instructor
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Former high school art teacher
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Meet Santha
Santha Koonce is an American artist who creates artwork that aligns with her unique vision of beauty. She enjoys working with a variety of mediums including colored pencil, watercolor, and collage, and has been creating art for over 30 years. Koonce’s artwork is rich in symbolism with certain motifs appearing frequently: women, flowers, skulls, moons, trees, butterflies, old buildings. She is drawn to the abandoned and forgotten and gives them new life in her artwork. She is an avid sketchbooker and art journaler who has taught workshops in her community for over a decade.
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Koonce is a native of Shelbyville, Tennessee, where she resides with husband Doug, son Elijah, and two grumpy felines. She taught high school art for many years before she left the field to develop her art practice. She has exhibited art at Middle Tennessee State University and the Fly Arts Center in Shelbyville, Tennessee. As the Visual Art chair at the Fly Arts Center she has recruited artists for the Fly Gallery, organized a kids art camp, and taught a variety of art classes. Koonce is also a member of the Bedford Arts Collective. She is excited to see what the future holds for her art practice.
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“I love creating art and find fulfillment in the tactile experience of the tools in my hands. I believe a rare alchemy occurs when I sit down to create art. I am revealing my inner world one brush or pen stroke at a time. My desire is to express myself authentically, and perhaps touch a soul out there for whom my art resonates. I believe art is part of what makes being human beautiful.”
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"I create art every day. I find fulfillment in the tactile experience of the tools in my hands. I believe a rare alchemy occurs when I sit down to create art. I am revealing my inner world one brush or pen stroke at a time.
My artwork is rich in symbolism with certain motifs appearing over and over: women, flowers, skulls, moons, suns, trees, butterflies, cemeteries. I explore the concept of cycles and the fragility of life within those cycles -- and the emotions we feel as we cycle through life, as well as the interconnectivity of the cycles of nature and our lives.
I express these questions, uncertainties, and musings sometimes through watercolor and pen, at other times through collage and mixed media. My art often reads like a deconstructed vanitas that I am attempting to put back together into a semblance of meaning.
Ultimately, my art is a conversation with myself, and I invite you to listen in."

One of my favorite things, sketching at a coffee shop!
