KoreArt Institute is...

KoreArt Institute first began in 1981 when President Song, Hae Sook started its first school in Chicago, Illinois.  Since then, KoreArt expanded by opening KoreArt Bloomington in 2001 and KoreArt Seoul-Korea in 2002.  The directors for all three schools are former students who studied under Song, Hae Sook and graduated from KoreArt Institute.  KoreArt Chicago is currently being directed by Lee, Sung Lim who is also a graduate of the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana with a degree in Art Education.  KoreArt Bloomington is under the supervision of director Rebecca Yi who graduated from Illinois State University with a degree in Art education.  KoreArt Seoul-Korea opened under the supervision of director Jung, Yu Kyung who is a graduate of the Art Institute of Chicago.  All of the KoreArt Institutes follow a universal curriculum, but each branch specifically tailors their wide variety of programs for the students and geographic areas for which they serve.  

The Founder of KoreArt: Artist Song, Hae Sook...

Song, Hae Sook graduated from Chu-Gye University for the Arts in Seoul, South Korea with a degree in Fine Arts.  In 1980, she moved to the United States to further her art education by enrolling at the Art Institute of Chicago.  During this time while studying in America, she discovered that there were many differences in teaching techniques between the different cultures of South Korea and the United States.  Although there were differences in styles, Song, Hae Sook realized that there are many successful ways to teach and inspire students to become better artists.  This discovery inspired her to pursue her studies further at various Universities and Colleges to investigate all the different styles of teaching.  This pursuit of learning different cultures and their styles of teaching helped her to develop her own teaching methodology. 

In 1987, Song, Hae Sook received a grant from the City of Chicago's Office of Fine Art.  With this grant, she debuted with her first solo exhibition in Chicago, IL USA.  Since then, she has gone on to have 17 solo exhibitions in the United States, Germany, and South Korea.  Song, Hae Sook has also been selected to be a part of many prestigious group exhibitions throughout the world.  In 2005, she was one of the elite artists to be exhibited at the Chicago International Art Fair. 

The Goal of KoreArt is ...

The goal of KoreArt is to develop a basic foundation of education, as well as developing one's own creativity and identity.  To help re-enforce these principles, KoreArt strongly believes that an artist should share their artwork with family, friends, and the rest of the world.  This idea started a series of art exhibitions for the students called "Hae Sook Song's Students Present".  Over the years, Song, Hae Sook and her students have gone on to present over 50 different exhibitions for students of all ages and talent groups.  She did not only limit these exhibitions for students, but also held exhibitions for her students' high school art teachers and other artists because she believes in promoting diversity in teaching and learning art. 

For over 28 years, KoreArt Institutes continues to grow because of its vision to develop students through care, education, different teaching philosophies, and promoting their artwork with exhibitions to help them become confident well rounded artists who strive to share what they have learned with the next generation of artists.