“When we choose to wonder about people we don’t know, when we imagine their lives and listen for their stories, we begin to expand the circle of those we see as part of us. We prepare ourselves to love beyond what evolution requires.”
Valarie Kaur
ACTIVIST, LAWYER, EDUCATOR, FAITH LEADER
Happy Spring! This month, we invite you to explore six new Seed students and alumni stories! Seedlings share about the importance of using their artwork to understand their emotions and reflect the complex world we live in. These young artists recognize that the path towards growing as an artist is winding and unpredictable, and there are endless possibilities as they begin to shape their futures as creatives.
Learn more about artist Ruby Starr Lerman, who looks forward to combining her interests in fiber arts, community organizing, and social justice into a meaningful and fruitful career. Similarly, Kaya Sophia Jarvis strives to use their artwork to inspire and change the world. Giselle Cordero discusses her interests in storytelling and illustration, and her desire to expand upon her technical skills in the League’s studio environment.

Giselle Cordero
A Passion for Storytelling
Ecuadorian
I learned from my past two years in the Communications Design program that while the industry is never-ending with creatives and opportunities, I am very much inclined towards illustration and storytelling.

Serena Rahaman
A Step Further
Asian
I want to study at the Art Students League because it will give me the opportunity to learn and broaden my areas of knowledge and take a step further to finding out what I really want to be when I grow up.

Ruby Starr Lerman
All or Nothing
Caucasian
I think working in an environment where other people are coming in to create would be cool because it would be grounding, and I could work on taking breaks and letting art come to me a little more naturally, rather than just letting it surge through me.

Kaya Sophia Jarvis
The Power of Collaboration
Black American
From portraits to cityscapes, a blank page is the starting point for all drawings. Upon its eggshell reams, I love how an empty page holds infinite possibilities of the artist’s mark— deciding whether the paper’s fate will be a dallying doodle or a complex composition.

Quyen Xuan Lamphere
A sense of Wonder
Vietnamese
Even before I started taking myself seriously as an artist, I had a passion for art. In kindergarten, I would create small, illustrated books and doodle cats in my school notebooks. When I started middle school, I finally decided that I wanted to work in the illustration or animation field as an adult.