Introduction

Representation of student voices is the greatest motivator for me as a librarian and in shepherding the production of this body of creative student work. This book represents the fourth version of a collaborative effort between English Language Learners, writing personal stories from their lives, and art students reading the stories and creating interpretive artwork. I am honored that students are willing to share personal aspects of themselves through stories and art with our community at Lake Washington Institute of Technology; This book, along with the previous three editions, is part of our collection of ELL library books. I am grateful for the participation and help from colleagues from the ELL program (Sam Brann), International program (Karyna Tytar) and Art program (Abigail Drapkin). The writing and art instructors worked hard to develop assignments for students to produce the work, help students understand permissions, and encourage sharing their work publicly in a book. The librarians helped me shape the project and library technician Emily Dunster helped produce the book, including, importing the stories, scanning the artwork, and helping format the book. This book is truly a team effort and I am so grateful for the group participation. This project concludes with a storytelling event in the library for the second year in a row, which adds another rich element to hear the voices live.
Sue Wozniak, Faculty Librarian

Sharing a work of art created as an art student takes courage, particularly if the work of art is to appear in a publication. While learning the fundamentals of a visual arts language in my Introduction to Drawing and Intermediate Drawing classes in fall 2023, students could participate in this collaborative book project. When reading the stories submitted by students in the ELL program, art students responded to descriptions of places and people in the stories and the feelings of culture shock expressed by the writers. Without knowing the writers, students reflected on the emotions described, many finding landscapes that recalled the spaces in the books or drawing figurative works more symbolic than illustrative of the written portraits. Frequently, they found a watercolor or collage they had created for an assignment that felt fitting. Other times, they were compelled to create new work. Developing the confidence to share one’s artwork takes time, and I hope students feel pride in their work and a connection to the students who took the same leap of courage in sharing their writing in this book.
Abigail Drapkin, Art Instructor