Unleash your creativity this winter

At the start of a new year, many people make a resolution to learn something new or develop a hidden, or maybe not so hidden, talent.
If you feel it’s time to nurture your creative side, arts centers across Seoul are offering a wide spectrum of cultural courses.
Seoul Arts Center in central Seoul offers a variety of lifelong learning courses for all ages. The courses are taught by well-known artists and professors. They have three academies ― in music, fine arts and calligraphy.
Artists like Kwon Nyeong-ho, a painter, Shin Jong-sik, a fine arts professor at Hongik University, and Kang Sung-won, who specializes in abstract painting, will be offering practical courses in oil paintings, watercolors, croquis, engraving, ink painting and photography.
There are also talks on art theory by the center’s curators.
The center also offers courses on classical music.
Music producer Kim Sang-heon said you need to study the basics of classical music if you want to appreciate fully different genres.
Kim wrote the soundtracks for Korean TV dramas such as “My Name is Kim Sam-soon” and “Alone in Love.”
Kim lectures on Tuesdays from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. starting the first week of March.
The calligraphy academy has produced around 900 graduates since 1988. Students get to practice writing in Chinese characters and hangul, the Korean alphabet, using traditional writing brushes.
Courses cost from 220,000 won ($234) to 330,000 won for 14 lectures. Registering must be done before Feb. 29. For more information and class schedules, call (02) 580-1459 or visit www.sac.or.kr.
Sejong Arts Academy, also in central Seoul, offers courses in the performance, visual and synthetic arts.
Music columnist Jung Jun-ho will lecture on the lives and works of modern composers every Tuesday at noon starting Jan. 22.
Opera columnist Yoo Hyung-jong, the head of MusikBaum, a private music association, will lecture on the historical backgrounds of European operas and ballets and theater arts.
He lectures Wednesdays at 7 p.m., starting Jan. 23.
Other courses start from this Saturday and last until April. Fees vary from 150,000 won to 300,000 won. For more, call (02) 399-1606 or visit www.sejongpac.or.kr.

By Lee Eun-joo Contributing Writer
[estyle@joongang.co.kr]