Artistic styles and works
Koh's work encompasses the artistic styles of conceptual art, environmental art, and minimalism. [9] In an on-going work titled Knitwork (1992-present), Koh unravels used garments and re-knits the materials into one larger and constantly evolving object. [10] This piece demonstrates characteristics of environmental art through Koh's use of recycled materials and the ways in which she turns used and discarded items into a working piece of art. [9] In a similar artwork called Lumber (1991-1994, dispersed 2002), Koh makes use of flexible pieces of recuperated lumber glazed with oil and marine varnish to be installed alongside select architecture. [11] Various projects by Koh are also collaborative or rely on the active participation of its audiences. One example of such works include an art gallery titled "ad hoc gallery" which was put on display in collaboration with Geoffrey Brown from 1993-1994. [12] [13] An example of one which incorporates its participants into the art piece itself is League, which began in 2012 and is categorized as a "participatory project". [14] Koh describes League as "an open group of people who gather regularly to play sports and games invented or conceived by members of the community ... The project is founded in a belief in the value of emergent behaviour and the process of making sense of things." [15] Koh emphasizes games, sport, and play as forms of problem-solving which focus on the mental over the physical and the processes of learning, adapting, and evolution through iteration as central to the overall concept of the project. [15]
Koh combines both making use of discarded or found items and active participation in a project called Sightings (1992–1998), which involved the commercial printing and publishing of images found in public as postcards. [16] These postcards closely interacted with the individuals they reached, drawing emphasis on the ideas of making art out of common everyday objects and experiences as well as recognizing the uniqueness of common places. [17]
Other projects
In addition to her artistic work, Koh is co-founder of the Toronto-based record label and artist-management company Weewerk. [3] [18] She is also an athlete. Koh played varsity volleyball and badminton at the University of Ottawa and is a former captain of roller derby team the Terminal City All-Stars. Her interest in the relationship between creativity and athleticism resulted in the creation of The Koh-Verchere Award for Athletic and Creative Excellence, an Emily Carr University of Art and Design student award, [19] and the establishment of Vancouver's League. [20] [21] Koh was part of the design team for the No. 2 Road North Drainage Pump Station [22] in Richmond B.C., which was awarded the Public Works Association of British Columbia 2018 Project of the Year award. [23] In 2018, Koh became the first artist-in-residence in the City of Vancouver engineering department. [24]
