"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 Champaign, Illinois. She earned an MFA degree in Fine Arts from Purdue University and explores themes of memory, place, and cultural identity in her work. 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. Inspired by her home country, South Korea, she uses traditional Korean materials such as mulberry paper, calligraphy ink , and watercolors to create evocative visual narratives. 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
TEACHING
2025 - Present Teaching Assistant Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, IL
2019-2023 Lecturer (Instructor of Record), Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
2016-2019 Graduate Instructor (Instructor of Record), Foundations Drawing, Purdue University,
West 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
2025 Bicentennial: Regionally Related Works from our Permanent Collection,
Art Museum of Greater Lafayette, Lafayette, IN
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
AWARD AND HONOR
2021 Selected as a Winning Design for Sagamore Parkway Light Pole Banners (Cash Award)
West Lafayette Public Art Project, West Lafayette, IN
2019 Graduate Student Excellence in Teaching Award, Purdue University
WORKSHOPS
2024 Korean Folk Painting, Artist League at the Art Museum of Greater Lafayette, Lafayette, IN
2023 Collage with Mulberry Paper at the Evansville Museum of Art, History, and Science, Evansville, IN
ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE
2024 Juror, Round the Fountain Art Fair, Lafayette, IN
2019 Juror, Juried Show of Wabash Valley Artists Society, Lafayette, IN
CONTINUING EDUCATION RELATED TO DRAWING AND PAINTING
2019 Minwha: Korean Folk Painting Study, In-Soo Yoon's Art Studio, Seoul, Korea
2011-2012 Traditional Korean Painting "The Four Gentlemen" Study, Ken-Suh Park's Art Studio, Chicago, IL
2009 Korean Calligraphy Study, Korean Culture Center, Dallas, TX
