The Korean American Young Artist group hosts their second fall art gallery on Oct. 23

Scrap your image of the starving artist: not only are the creative works of the Korean American Young Artist group bringing in the dough, they’re dishing it out, too.

On Oct. 23, KAYA propped up a sign at the entrance to the New Vision Church’s parking lot in Milpitas, advertising their gallery with cheerful balloons. Though the day was gray, the art show presented a smorgasbord of vividly colorful artistic works. The featured pieces ranged from charcoal portraits to abstract architecture and oil paintings of still-life objects. MVHS students who contributed to the art show include seniors Yaewon Yun, Jenny Kwon, Jee Soo Lee, Lydia Lee, and sophomores Eunice Lee and Sarah Lee.

KAYA is an organization outside of MVHS founded by Yun the previous school year. Having always found art a hobby, Yun did not decide that she wanted to major in art until the beginning of her junior year. It was that year that KAYA came to life when Yun approached several of her friends to join her.

“Initially, Yaewon approached me with the idea [of KAYA] and at the time, [the earthquake in] Haiti [was] going on, “ KAYA vice-president Kwon said. “I thought maybe using my craft would be a really good way for me to contribute and help out.”

KAYA’s first gallery on Feb. 6 was dedicated to collecting money for the disaster support in Haiti. This year, however, KAYA is looking to aid schools that lack funding to support their art departments.

“I want to feel to connection with kids who are not as privileged,” Yun said. “We are actually donating to the districts that lack in art programs so those kids can have the same experience as us [in art].”

On top of the charitable aspect of KAYA’s showcase is a sense of community. KAYA is an organization of people with passion and dedication.

“We’re all close and we all sharing art and appreciate it together,” Sarah said.

Unlike the previous art gallery, visitors did not have to purchase tickets to attend the exhibit. Instead, KAYA relied on the heartfelt donations of the people who attended the event. Yun anticipated $700 in donations—KAYA collected $775.50 from the event. KAYA would like to dish out that dough to schools in the Milpitas Unified School District, and encourage the arts.

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