Yangsoon Lee is an artist, living and working in Austin. She born and raised in the countryside of South Korea. She believes her childhood, during which she set out on frequent excursions to Botanical Gardens and Nature Conservatories, inspires her to draw nature often in her artwork. Yangsoon demonstrates a highly developed sense of color and composition and a keen attention to detail. She illuminates qualities that often go unnoticed by the casual observer.

   Her B.A. in Fiber art was received from Hong-Ik University, the most famous art college in South Korea. Subsequently, she attended graduate school in Fine Art at the same school. Once she became a freshman in college, she started her career as an art instructor for those who have passion for learning art.

   When she came to America with her husband (currently a professor at UT Austin) and her one-year-old son, she was busy, frustrated, and having a hard time adjusting to a new world. However, her situation couldn't stop her from expressing her passion and sentiment for abstract painting.

   After they settled down in Austin Texas, she opened her art studio and put her enthusiasm into her artwork and teaching. She started taking photos and drawing scenes from widespread areas such as Santa Fe, San Francisco, Utah, New York, and Yellowstone, to local areas, which allowed Yangsoon to gain inspiration from the different natural surroundings and look closer into the microscopic world. The inspiration and rejuvenation that came to her in 2009 led to a deep urge to foster that creative energy and to use it to express the beauty of nature and the energy of people and animals that she was beginning to see around her. She also taught an oil painting class as a volunteer and has exhibited her artwork in group exhibitions from 2010 to 2013. It was her golden time.

   Yangsoon was active in painting, dyeing, drawing, and sketching until she was diagnosed breast cancer in December 2014, stopping her from pursuing her dreams. She started to become inspired by a new spiritual energy and the world around her in late 2015, and began to paint again with passion. Now she is taking physical therapy following her surgery. It makes her less productive, but it will not stop her from expressing her views of the world.

   Yangsoon’s spirituality impacts (and embodies) her art, and she wishes to translate her connection to this internal energy onto every canvas by telling a story with color, shape, and figures. Every stroke is a manifestation of her deep-rooted spirituality and emotion. She has refused to give up on her work, despite her surgery, and dreams that she will once again soar like an eagle and spread her wings to draw beautiful artwork. This dream has already begun with her work’s acceptance to the Round Rock Arts’ Exhibition at Artspace in April 2016, and the two-person exhibition for the Dan-Oh Korean Spring Festival. She wants to give hope to people who need beautiful inspiration, so they can dream again like her.