My name is SeonJoo (sounds like SUN-ZOO). I am from South Korea, and I lived in Seoul, South Korea for 44 years. Since 2006, I have lived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the United States. As an artist and educator, I enjoy making fun and valuable classes teaching something I know. Through my experience, fortunately, I got three master’s degrees in Biochemistry, Curriculum and Instruction, and Jong-ie Jupgi Paper Folding Art of Korea. My studies of Korean history and culture have kept me close to my heritage, and paper folding art has increased my creativity and wellness. I have been teaching art or Korean culture workshops in several Milwaukee Public Schools since 2009.
Jong-ie Jupgi paper folding arts help children to develop and maintain brain capacity and health. For young children, it can help to build hand-eye coordination and stimulate the loco-motor and cognitive areas of the brain with a strong link to math and geometry skills. For teenagers, it will be able to assist with manual dexterity, fractions, creativity, measurement, and reasoning. It also retains and builds sequencing, attention, math reasoning, visual and social skills.
I enjoy teaching how to make artwork using simple papers, and I find it to boost self-worth, pride and joy to create a calm, peaceful activity with affordable supplies. I also value encouraging multi-cultural awareness, tolerance, and peace, and sharing my culture and experience with my neighboring community. Whether transforming scraps of paper into flowers, birds, cars, trains, airplanes, boats, furniture, clothing, foods, simple baskets, or other objects, the joy and health from Jong-ie Jupgi is immense and contagious.