SARAH TAYLOR KO
Contemporary Mixed Media Art
Selected Awards
~ Top 100 International Designers from TWOPAGES X Design Contest, 2026
~ Recognition and Purchase Award from The Hawai'i State Foundation for Culture and the Arts, 2022
~Honorable Mention Time that Came Before the Time that Follows, Firehouse Gallery July 2022
~Honorable Mention Manu-o-ku Show Me the Way
Wailoa Center 2021
~ Recognition and Purchase Award from The Hawai'i State Foundation for Culture and the Arts, 2019
~ Honorable Mention Little Bird in Wild World, Hawaii Nei, Wailoa Center, Hilo, Hawai'i, November, 2018
~ Honorable Mention for How They Left the Island First Annual Art2Life Academy International Show juried by Donna Seager, October, 2018
~ Recognition Award, Volcano Art Center, 2017
~ Second Place Wild Boar, Imagine Juried Show, Hilo, Hawai'i, 2017
~ People's Choice Award Go with the Flow Collaborative Art Exhibit, August, 2015
~ Honorable Mention 4th Biennial Abstract Only Exhibition, Wailoa Center, Hilo Hawai'i, August, 2012
~ Honorable Mention Hawai’i Nei Celebrating Native Species, Wailoa Center, Hilo, HI, August, 2011
~ Third Place Award, E Komo Mai juried competition, Wailoa Center, Hilo, Hawai'i, November, 2010
~ Honorable Mention, East Hawai’i Cultural Center Spring Arts Festival, Hilo, Hawai'i, April, 2007
~ Jurors Award, East Hawai’i Cultural Center Fall Arts Festival, Hilo, HI, recognition by the State of Hawai’i, 2007
I
Selected Exhibition History
~University of Hawaii Museum's Inaugural Insect Art Show, Honolulu Printmakers, October 2025
~ Huaka'i, Journey, Firehouse Gallery juried by Stephen Freedman and Philippe F. Nault, July 2022
~MidSummer Art Celebration, Wailoa Center, Hilo, Hawai'i, June 2021
~ Firehouse Gallery Freedom Celebration, Waimea, Hawai'i'i August 2021
~ Celebration of Hawaii Invitational Show, Viewpoints Gallery, Maui, Hawai'i, 2021
~ Front Porch Gallery Annual Juried Exhibition juried by Maria Mingalone, Carlsbad, California, August, 2020
~ Through the Eyes of Artists Invitational Mural Project, Viewpoints Gallery Maui, Hawai'i, June, 2020
~ 10th Annual Maui Open Studios, 2020
~ Portals Firehouse Gallery, Waimea, Hawai'i, April, 2019
~ Hawai'i Nei Native Species juried competition Wailoa Center Hilo, Hawai'i, November, 2018
~ Juried into the First Annual International Art2Life Academy Show, juried by Donna Seager, 2018
~ Birds of the Park Invitational Exhibit, Volcano Art Center, Hawai'i, 2018
~ MidSummer Art Celebration, Wailoa Center, Hilo, Hawai'i, 2018
~ Selected for Juried Art Show, Volcano Art Center, 2017
~ Imagine Juried Show, Hilo, Hawai'i, 2017
~ Selected for the first Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park Juried Invitational Show, Through Artist's Eyes April, 2015
~ Hawai'i Nei, juried art competition, Walioa Center, Hawai'i, 2014
~ 4th Biennial juried Abstract Only Exhibition, Wailoa Center, Hilo Hawai'i, August, 2012
~ Calvin University Alumni Juried Painting Exhibition, Center Art Gallery, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2012
~ Hawai'i Volcano Observatory’s 100th Anniversary juried show, January, East Hawai'i Cultural Center, Hilo, Hawai'i, 2012
~ Selected for Hawai’i Nei Celebrating Native Species, Wailoa Center, Hilo, Hawai'i, August, 2011
~ E Komo Mai Wailoa Center, Hilo, Hawai'i, November, 2010
~ East Hawai’i Cultural Center juried Spring Arts Festival, Hilo, Hawaii, April, 2007
Publication
~ Published in the December 2019 issue of Still Points Quarterly, "Phenomenol Women."
~ Published in Cloudsong, a collaborative music and art show inspired by clouds, 2016
Gallery Representation
~Viewpoints Gallery, 3620 Baldwin Ave # 101, Makawao, Hawai'i, 96768
~Banyan Gallery, 71 Banyan Drive, Hilo, Hawai'i, 96720
~Nohea Gallery , 4211 Waialae Ave 1340, Honolulu, Hawai'i, 96816
Education
~Immersion Surface Pattern Design, Bonnie Christine, 2022
~ Language of Design, Mark Eanes, 2021
~ CVP Creative Visionary Program, Nicholas Wilton, 2017
~ BFA, Calvin College, 1994
About
Sarah Taylor Ko is a mixed media artist and surface pattern designer living on Hawai'i Island. Her work often explores Hawaiian cultural themes such as wayfinding, native stewardship practices, and kapa patterns.
Because of her interest in patina and layering she prefers creating on wood panels with acrylic, gold leaf, charcoal, wax, and other elements that can be distressed.
Sarah was co-chair of the Visual Arts Guild at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan where she graduated magna cum laude and earned a BFA in drawing and printmaking.
Giotto, Jim Dine, and Makoto Fujimura are a few of the diverse artists who have influenced Sarah’s work and art process. Like the Group of Seven’s ambition to create truly Canadian art, Sarah's intentions are to make art celebrating her adopted home.
Sarah's award-winning work has been juried into dozens of shows, recognized by the Hawai'i State Foundation for Culture and the Arts, purchased by Netflix for the hit series Untamed, the permanent collection of Calvin University, and private collections around the world.
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Spoonflower
Etsy
WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT SARAH'S WORK
Your own beautiful spirit shines out in your beautiful and imaginative work.
~Cora Harrington
Inspiring.
~Diane Grob
Amazing detail, masterful, very balanced.
~Susan Weiss Berry
Imaginative and dream-like.
~Catherine Musham
...like a series of deep and intriguingly mystical poems.
~Claudia Riley
Astounding and beautiful.
~April Bushcher
Sarah's paintings seem like love songs to moments we are lucky enough to experience.
The paintings bridge the aesthetics of observational painting and abstraction and are made up of strong shapes, celebrating color, dark and light; lofty and cinematic, with the surface broken up in just beautiful ways.
They feel like a breath; taking a moment to enjoy the moment.
~Jay Jaskot, Nohea Gallery