"Because I learned the Korean alphabet much later than my peers did, I paid more attention to the visual imagery in media, such as children’s picture books and comics. As my eyes lingered over the colors and movements of the lines and shapes in the 2D images, I would dive into the world of the two-dimensional surface. Therefore, the pictorial image became a part of my surrounding world, which no longer existed just on a flat surface. In a sense, I lived in such a space. Now, through observing and contemplating my surroundings, I create space where my memories and emotions are continuing to live and grow." - Soyoung Jung
Soyoung Jung, originally from South Korea, now lives and works as an artist in West Lafayette, Indiana. After studying graphic design at Sookmyung Women’s University in South Korea, Jung worked with 2D paper media such as books, magazines, and newspapers as a graphic designer and an illustrator. She later moved to the U.S., where she studied drawing and painting. Jung completed a Master of Fine Arts at Purdue University in 2019.
Jung works on both portraits and urban landscapes, which sometimes become integrated. Her artistic journey has grown out of her shift from place to place in the U.S. This has led her to portray emotional and psychological landscapes representing her surroundings and figurative subjects. In her artwork, Jung typically uses paper, particularly handmade Korean mulberry paper, with calligraphy ink and Korean watercolors. Through practicing a traditional Korean painting method in her work as she paints her surroundings, Jung seeks to demonstrate a cross-cultural perspective.
EDUCATION
2015-2019 Master of Fine Arts, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
Concentration: Drawing and Painting
1991-1995 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Sookmyung Women's University, Seoul, South Korea
Concentration: Graphic Design
CONTINUING EDUCATION RELATED TO DRAWING AND PAINTING
2019 Minwha: Korean Folk-Art Study, In-Soo Yoon's Art Studio, Seoul, Korea
2012-2013 Life Drawing I & II, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
2012-2013 Traditional Korean Painting Study, West Lafayette, IN
Studies of Ink-Wash and Gong-Bi Painting techniques
2011-2012 Traditional Korean Painting Study, Ken-Suh Park's Art Studio, Chicago, IL
"The Four Gentlemen" Study
2009 Korean Calligraphy Study, Korean Culture Center, Dallas, TX
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
2023 Instructor of Record: Life Drawing I & II, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
2022 Instructor of Record: "Glocal" History and Society of Korea: Purdue study abroad program
conducted in July in S. Korea
2022 Instructor of Record: Life Drawing I & II, Basic Drawing, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
2019-2022 Instructor of Record: Foundations Drawing, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
2016-2019 Graduate Teaching Assistant: Instructor of Record, Foundations Drawing, Purdue University,
West Lafayette, IN
AWARD
2021 Selected for the Public Art Project: Sagamore Parkway Banners, West Lafayette, IN
2019 Selected for Graduate Student Excellence in Teaching Award, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE
2019 Juror, Juried Show of Wabash Valley Artists Society, Lafayette, IN
SOLO/TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2023 Artist-in-Residence, Evansville Museum of Art, History, and Science, Evansville, IN
2023 Home Exhibition at the AAARCC (Asian American and Asian Resource and Cultural Center),
Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
2023 Inward And Outward Bound, Solo Exhibition, Art Museum of Greater Lafayette, Lafayette, IN
2019 Dialectic of Space, MFA Thesis Show, Patti and Rusty Rueff Galleries at Purdue University,
West Lafayette, IN
2015 Connections, Solo Exhibition, Frontier Gallery, Lafayette, IN
2013 Exhibition of Korean Traditional Paintings, Two-Person Exhibition, K Dees Coffee, Lafayette, IN
SELECTED JURIED/GROUP/INVITATIONAL EXHIBITIONS
2021 Aquachrome: Juried Exhibition, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, OH
2020 Art of Architecture, Juried Exhibition, Tippecanoe Art Federation, Lafayette, IN
2019-2020 3rd Annual Small Works Show, Juried Exhibition, Art Room, Fort Worth, TX
2019 Similitude: A survey of contemporary portraiture, Juried Exhibition, Manifest Gallery,
Cincinnati, OH
2017 -97.076585 40.408170: 12 Art Installation Exhibitions, Ross Camp, West Lafayette, IN
2017 Aquachrome: Juried Exhibition, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, OH
2017 Past, Present, and Future, Bindery Artist Studios and Gallery, Lafayette, IN
2016 Traditional Realism: 66th Annual Juried National Exhibition, Academic Artists Association,
Vernon, CT
2016 Purdue MFA Group Exhibition, Bindery Artist Studios and Gallery, Lafayette, IN
2015-2016 Westwood Biannual Juried Exhibition, Westwood at Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
2015 Pulse: MFA Group Exhibition of Installations, Alternative Space of Patti and Rusty Rueff Galleries at
Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
2014 Fragmented Memories, Grateful Heart Gallery, Lafayette, IN