Sunyoung Cheon is a botanical artist and the current Vice President of the Georgia Chapter of the Korea Botanical Culture and Arts Promotion Association.
She was awarded the Excellence Prize at the 2025 BAAK International Botanical Art Exhibition and is currently an invited artist with both BAAK and KBAA. She has participated in group exhibitions in Korea and the United States, showcasing delicate and thoughtful works rooted in nature.
Botanical art, for me, is not merely about replicating a plant's likeness. It is about honoring its presence and translating its colors, textures, and fleeting moments into enduring images. Each plant reveals its own character and palette to patient observation.
From the moment a flower blossoms to the moment it wilts; from an afternoon filled with light to the quiet evening when colors begin to fade; from the lush green hues of summer leaves to the barren branches of winter trees. Each plant carries its own sense of time and presence. Rather than approaching plants as subjects of study, I draw them as things I love to observe for a long time.
Working with traditional Korean paper and ink, and watercolor pens, I let the materials guide the process as much as the subject itself. My drawings are not meant to define or classify, but to quietly hold the moments that arise from looking at something with sustained attention and care. They are records of time spent in the presence of living things, small acts of devotion to the beauty found in growth, change, and impermanence.