Belmont Resident Shares a Passion for Art with Younger Students

Joy Son knew early on that she had a talent for art.

At age 10, she began drawing and sketching, and, as she gained confidence, moved on to paint with bright, colorful acrylics.

“At the beginning, I wasn’t very good or very fast, but I was able to learn through the help of my teachers, so I’ve gotten much better,” she said.

Joy grew as an artist, taking Advanced Placement classes with Belmont High School art teacher Mark Milowksy and earning accolades, including the 2022 Scholastic Art & Writing award. She also showed her work at Studio Noma in Waltham.

Now a senior at Belmont High School, Joy shares her passion for art by teaching younger students in private classes and through a 12-week art camp she hosted during the summer.

“From my own experience, I found group lessons, even private lessons, are very, very expensive, so oftentimes I couldn’t have them, or we would have to search for certain teachers who wouldn’t have such a high price,” she said. “I just wanted to encourage artistic creativity and passion for students, so, once they get to high school, they have developed a skill and have passion and want to continue it.”

Joy’s father encouraged the camp idea to challenge her skills as a teacher.

“That was eye-opening for me,” she said. “I know how difficult it is to work in a group environment, and I am interested in the educational standpoint of teaching and working with several students and growing a connection with them. So, I thought it was a really good idea.”

Another part of the plan was to advertise the camp to second-generation students whose parents had emigrated to the U.S. like her own parents. Joy advertised the camp through Boston Korea, a Korean American newspaper, and drew students from Korean and Chinese families.

She wanted to show students and their parents that pursuing a passion in life was just as important as pursuing financial security.

“I am truly blessed to have parents who support me so much in my art, but a lot of the second- or first-generation parents don’t support their kids because they experienced a life where they had to work so hard with a job that didn’t provide them with much stability,” she explained. “That can blind them from wanting to guide their children toward a path toward their passion rather than money.”

While she taught, the parents chatted about their experiences moving to America and the challenges of raising a family in a new country. Joy said it was important for her to show the parents how their children developed their skills and grew as artists over the 12-week program, from basic drawing to more complex projects, including two-point perspective drawings, that showcased their personalities and artistic styles.

To that end, the last class served as an art show, with pieces from each class displayed so the parents could appreciate their evolution as artists.

“It’s really fun to see who they are, how they come out of their paintings and their drawings, whether they are more colorful and messy or simple with very clean lines,” she said. “That’s really fun for me.”

Joy said she is still providing private and group art lessons for Belmont students and may host another camp next summer, possibly with the same students or a whole new group of second-generation kids who can be shown it is possible to live a creative life.

“For some parents, they’ve worked so hard they want their children to have a good job, something stable like being a doctor or an engineer or whatever,” she said. “But from my parents’ standpoint, it’s more like, ‘Because we’ve worked so hard for you, I want you to pursue a passion.’ I’m so incredibly grateful that they can trust me to follow this and continue it, so I really want to give back with whatever I have, whatever I can pursue.”