Kow invites viewers to reflect, reconnect and find pieces of their own story within ordinary objects
Every piece of artwork by Sharon Siew Suan Kow evokes a memory and has a story. With lines so fine you cannot trace where each begins or ends, and colours that bring nostalgic objects to life, the retro toys in her upcoming exhibition in Penang, I Remember/Kenangan, are so real you instinctively want to touch them.
She is thrilled when people relate to her work and start talking about their own yellow rubber ducks, sharpeners, toy soldiers, bottle caps, marbles and Slinky. Her medium, colour pencils, engages on another level, too. Who has not clutched a handful of that common stationery and imagined herself an artist?
Kow did not, until the daughter whom she had quit working to care for was in Form Five. She was 43 then, had moved from Kuala Lumpur to Penang because of her husband’s career, and wanted to do something meaningful for herself. Art, her favourite subject at school, looked viable.
She had taken it for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (Malaysian Certificate of Education) exam, confident of scoring. When her teacher suggested using colour pencils instead of graphite or poster colours, she was not sure whether that was allowed. But he assured her, “If they reject your paper, I will go and see the minister.”
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After secondary school, Kow joined the workforce, married and embraced motherhood. There was hardly time to draw — until her decision 12 years ago to make art her profession. With a small room turned studio as well as pets at home, acrylic and turpentine were not feasible. Colour pencils would be the logical choice, but when she Googled artists who used that medium in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, no names popped up.
Widening her search to coloured pencil art, she stumbled upon a Facebook group named as such, formed in the US in 2010 and dedicated to the medium. She joined them and was quickly drawn into a small community that freely shared knowledge on technique, style and ideas; pencils, papers and where to source them; and how to mix and blend colours. Amazed to find like-minded artists out there, Kow told herself, “Yes, I can do this.”
The damper was getting “weird looks” from people who, upon learning what she did, would ask, “You mean, like the colouring book Secret Garden?”
That hurt, Kow remembers, but coming late into her artistic pursuit, “I had the maturity to handle negative comments.”
There was also the dilemma of whether to call her artwork drawings or paintings. Instead of losing sleep over that, she focused on getting people to take her coloured pencil art more seriously. Kow began uploading pieces on social media and submitting them for shows and publications. Soon, she was making the covers of art magazines and winning awards.
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In 2016, she became a signature member of the Colored Pencil Society of America — a status artists attain after their work is juried into CPSA’s annual exhibition three times within 10 years. She did it over three consecutive years, from 2014.
Kow drew wildlife to boost awareness of their unique beauty and help protect them. Echoes (2023), created for an auction in support of Save Wild Tigers, captures two of those creatures gazing into the unknown, prompting viewers to wonder, “Will they one day exist only in our recollections, much like fading echoes?”
Last December, Echoes made the cover of Ann Kullberg’s Color, a magazine first published in 1999 to inspire newbies and masters alike to pick up their pencils and create art. Kow is both ambassador and judge of the Faber-Castell Colour4Life 2025 Drawing Competition, open to artists across Asia-Pacific starting this year. The German manufacturer of pens, pencils and office supplies, which established a factory in Malaysia in 1978, is one of her earliest supporters, after she reached out to them for a minor exhibition in 2013.
I Remember/Kenangan comes five years after her first solo, Still, held at G Art Gallery in Penang. The current event at Hin Bus Depot opens on Dec 5 and proceeds from sales will go to The Children’s Protection Society Malaysia.
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She believes all 15 pieces on display are “immediate topics of conversation”, from a Rubik’s Cube to little tubes of plastic bubbles. “When people recognise what they see, it brings back memories.”
With her focus on realism, Kow is particular about copyright. She does diligent research before any project and shoots many photos of objects and subjects for reference. To create Echoes, for example, she visited the tigers at a zoo.
Patience underpins Kow’s style: Getting the smooth effect of an oil painting requires at least 20 applications of colours, using professional grade pencils. Striking shades catch the eye of the younger generation and enhance the three-dimensional effect of her work, giving it depth, emotion and energy.
Discipline sets the daily schedule for this artist, who has no time to waste and works well under pressure. “You search for inspiration, not hang around and wait for it to come.”
Colour pencils are very forgiving if you know how to use them, she adds.
Instead of erasing an unwanted line, just draw another over it and adjust. As for erasers, Kow finds them handy for lifting a pigment or colour from a surface, usually to create highlights. “I enjoy coloured pencil art and am happy doing it. It’s a form of escapism. I don’t think about other things when working because I’m so engrossed.”
'I Remember/Kenangan' runs until Jan 4, 2026, at Hin Bus Depot, George Town.
This article first appeared on Dec 1, 2025 in The Edge Malaysia.
