Xan Sinclair Koonce

“The desire to understand spirituality and its transformational power motivates my work. My objective is to magnify nature beyond its literal meaning to explore the relationship between nature and spirituality.”

 Xan Sinclair Koonce was born and raised in West Texas where the only vivid color that permeated the bleak landscape was the endless blue sky. Today, she resides in Georgetown, Texas, where she has grown to appreciate the color and beauty that Central Texas reveals.  While caring for her family and working as a professional event planner at Southwestern University, she earned her Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art from Southwestern University, the oldest institution of higher education in Texas.

 Xan’s interest is taking the beauty she sees and abstracting it to gain greater insight.  Once inspired, she unapologetically applies seductive and radiant colors to her paintings as an expression of her growth, strength, control and endurance.  As she paints, her primary concern is conveying a sensual experience through color, line and composition.

 She is an artist who embodies the synthesis of abstract expressionism with the palette of Matisse.  It is precisely this fusion of spontaneity and color that has produced a rich and expressive body of work. 

 All of her artistic pursuits stem from a passion for beauty and a reverence for the power that beauty has to transform life. 

Xan’s latest series, Angels Unaware, depict the revelation of angels and the peace and strength that revelation has offered her. She has come to understand that angels can be a simple thought that inspires, or they may come as spiritual intuitions.  Perhaps they may be revealed in nature and can only be felt in the solitude of worldliness. 

 

She has been inspired by a quote written by M.B. Eddy, “When angels visit us, we do not hear the rustle of wings, nor feel the feathery touch of the breast of a dove; but we know their presence by the love they create in our hearts.  This sweet assurance is the “Peace, be still” to all human fears, to suffering of every sort...”

 

“Circumstances surrounding each of our lives, be it challenging or not, angel thoughts are real, ever-existing, and present for each of us to experience.  I believe that when one is most receptive to the reality of them, one is more aware of angels’ presence.”

 

 

 

EXHIBITIONS

2008                JSpace, Oil Paintings, Marble Falls, Texas, Oct. 2008.

2008                Vivid Imagination, Cerulean Gallery, Oil Paintings, Dallas, Texas, Aug.                            2008

2008                Inner Section, Cerulean Gallery, Oil Paintings, Dallas, Texas, Feb. 2008

2008                GX Creative Communications, Oil Paintings, Georgetown, Texas,                                    January, 2008.

2007                Colorblinded, Cerulean Gallery, Oil Paintings, Dallas, Texas, Oct. 2007.

2007                Texas A & M Medical Research Library, Solo Exhibition of Oil Paintings, College Station, Texas, May – Aug., 2007.

 2007                Illuminations, Cerulean Gallery, Oil Paintings, Dallas, Texas, Jan. 2007.

 2006                Spectrum, Cerulean Gallery, Oil Paintings, Dallas, Texas, Aug., 2006.

 2004               Alumni Art Exhibition, Xan Koonce:  The Fine Arts Gallery, Southwestern University, Georgetown, Texas, October, 2004.

 2001                The Children’s Hospital of Austin Auxiliary – 2nd Annual Art Auction/Exhibition, Renaissance Hotel, Austin, Texas, October, 2001.

 2001               Senior Art Exhibition, Xan Koonce:  Printmaking, The Fine Arts Gallery, Southwestern University, Georgetown, Texas, April, 2001.

 2000               Painting Exhibition, Xan Koonce:  Abstract Oil Painting, The Fine Arts Gallery, Southwestern University, Georgetown, Texas, November 1999.

 1999               Painting Exhibition, Xan Koonce:  Abstract Oil Painting, The Fine Arts Gallery, Southwestern University, Georgetown, Texas, November 1999.

 1997               Figurative Sculpture Exhibition, Xan Koonce:  Self-portrait/Abstract Marble Sculpture, The Fine Arts Gallery, Southwestern University, Georgetown, Texas, November, 1997.

 1996               Painting I Exhibition, Xan Koonce:  Still Life, The Fine Arts Gallery, Southwestern University, Georgetown, Texas, November, 1996.

 1996               Drawing I Exhibition, Xan Koonce:  Still Life, The Fine Arts Gallery, Southwestern University, Georgetown, Texas, April, 1996.

1995                Ceramics Exhibition, Xan Koonce:  Wheel-thrown Bowls and Giner Jars, The Fine Arts Gallery, Southwestern University, Georgetown, Texas, April, 1995.

1994                Ceramic Exhibition, Xan Koonce:  Hand-built Clay Vessels, The Fine Arts Gallery, Southwestern University, Georgetown, Texas, Nov. 1994.

 

EDUCATION

2005                Studio Arts, Southwestern University, Georgetown, Texas

 

RELATED VOLUNTEER OUTREACH

2007                Served on the art committee for Seton Medical Center

Williamson, Round Rock, Texas.