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Get to Know the Artist: How JJ Burton Found Herself Through Paint and Koi

Bekah Rice July 27, 2022

While not on the job at SCDOT, JJ Burton creates beautiful acrylic paintings of all subject matters, from landscapes to portraits. Burton always loved her creative side, constantly drawing since elementary school. But what started out as a hobby became something much more significant for her in 2015, when she started to paint. Her career has skyrocketed as she now owns the Backyard Koi & Art Gallery in Cayce, sells her work at Soda City, and much more. 

Burton grew up in the Philippines before moving to South Carolina. She has since made a huge name for herself as an artist in the Columbia area as her work has caught attention all across town. The inspiration for learning to paint stems from a whimsical decision to adopt a few koi fish from a local pet store. She started to raise and sell her koi for a few years. After becoming enamored with their movements and the artistic aspects of how they interact with water and their surroundings, Burton decided to capture these movements on canvas. With motivation from Bob Ross, some art supplies, and the koi themselves, she became an expert at painting them, and they became synonymous with her brand. 

Animals reappear often in her paintings, and a signature subject matter of hers is the animal tree; several of her pieces are beautiful sunsets and sunrises with prominently shaped trees that delineate the shape of an animal on the move. She cites these “animal tree” pieces as her most unique form of mark-making. “When most people see it they either smile, seem surprised or even amazed,” Burton says, “My work connects to children a lot in that way too.”

Burton finds inspiration in plenty of artists like Bob Ross and Vincent Van Gogh. In terms of South Carolina artists, she cites Renea Eshleman, Charles Hite, and Roy Pascal as the three who guide her on her art journey. 

Her work has been exhibited in several festivals and exhibits, including the 2019 Korean Festival, 2019 Tartan Day in Cayce, the 2018 Midlands Holiday Family Expo, and the South Carolina State Fair on multiple occasions. She has experience with commissions of paintings and even large scale wall pieces.

If you’re looking for a personalized experience and view of her creative process, or if you want to learn how to paint as well as she does, Burton holds art lessons on the first Friday of every month at her gallery on Frink Street, as well as private one-on-one lessons by appointment. You can find her on Youtube on the J2ester22 channel, where she posts short videos and time-lapses of her work. In the future, she hopes to tackle the realm of oil painting and watercolors. She is currently working on several pieces at her studio, and her portfolio can be found on her website. 

In Visual Art Tags JJ Burton, Art Classes
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