written by Jenny Kordosky, coordinator of race & gender student programming

Hello, hello. Greetings from mid-school year!

As you know, this year Great River School is trying out holding monthly events for the student of color affinity groups. This month, we hosted regional artist Shoua Yang. Shoua is a print-maker with family ties to the Twin Cities. He is a Hmong-American artist who focuses on making keeping Hmong culture accessible and vibrant. Working with Shoua was fantastic - he really enjoys working with students and is so talented and passionate about his craft. He hopes to come back and work with Great River soon! Look for him potentially as a Great Gathering guest or teaching a summer camp!

Shoua worked with 9-12th grade students on a tapestry over two days. Students designed and cut their designs into linoleum on the theme of how they feel their identity is connected to Minnesota. Students left with three prints of their own plus their linoleum cut. Additionally, students make three print on fabric which Shoua will sew into a tapestry for us to display at school.

6-8th grade students had a shorter workshop with Shoua, learning about the history of printmaking, checking out a variety of different kinds of printmaking techniques, and then selecting a design of Shoua’s to print for themselves.

Check out the great images made and mostly designed by students below!