Kyaw Han Soe
Kyaw Han Soe (September 1942 – February 2008), known as Kenneth to his American friends and family, left his home state of Burma (present day Myanmar) in the 1980s, as a refugee. After spending ten years in a camp in Thailand, he arrived in the USA in August of 1992 and settled in Indianapolis, Indiana where he would marry Madonna Snyder Soe, who worked tirelessly in East Asian refugee resettlement, and fully develop his practice in painting.
From their apartment in Indianapolis, Soe would work mainly in acrylic and oil paints, favoring traditional canvas and canvas stretched over board. The focus of his work would, over the years, range from natural settings and still life subjects to more expressive abstract ideas.
While in Burma, Soe worked as a social studies teacher, and was yet to be known for his artwork. However, once in the US, Soe began painting prolifically, ultimately creating over 30 paintings including several pieces of found art and a large mural. His practice built upon studies undertaken as a young adult with a Burmese master of the brush, and later at the Heron Art School at the Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPI).
His work has been publicly exhibited in the skyline walkway in the Circle Center Mall in Indianapolis, as well as a solo show of artwork sponsored by the First Baptist Church of Indianapolis. He also once painted a large mural on the wall of his cousins’ restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky, which was created over a nine day period.
Kyaw Han Soe Art 