Wonsook Kim

“Art is about communication. Many times, the communication I feel from pieces is very destructive. We all know how hard life is and how the things we see don’t make sense. But that’s Life 101. What you say about it, where you go with it, is where the interest lies. Something beautiful, worthwhile to share, images you didn’t think about before or giving people a different perception – that is what I’m interested in. So I paint sadness and happiness, the kind of place that is unspoken yet spoken, unexplainable but expressible,” so says Wonsook Kim, who was recognized as Artist of the Year in 1995 by the United Nations.

Born in Pusan at the end of the Korean War, she was raised in Seoul. She came to the United States to study art in 1972 at Illinois State University, which is where Tom McCormick met her. They have been friends since as Wonsook's career has blossomed and she has become internationally known as a painter, printmaker and sculptor of exquisite beauty and sensitivity. She lives in Bloomington, Indiana but is often traveling between New York, Europe and Asia. A woman who seems to never rest, she says, “If I can make someone look at things a bit differently, brighten their outlook, make them think in a different way or appreciate what they see around them, that’s a great success. Any great piece of art, music, or writing alters our existence. The goal, the aspiration for doing this is to celebrate life.”