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The Gordon School

The Britt Nelson Visiting Artist program

This program brings professional artists into Gordon’s classrooms. Students work alongside these artists, who lead them through projects that mirror the process of the artist’s own work. While learning new skills, students draw larger lessons from these professionals, individuals who have found a way to stay engaged in the arts, and in the world of ideas, throughout their adult lives.

As part of the residency, each visiting artist gives a presentation to all three divisions of the school. These presentations are open, so that parents, alumni and the general public can share the Gordon students’ experience.

The Britt Nelson Fund was established in 1996 in memory of Britt Nelson, the mother of three Gordon students and wife of a Gordon graduate. Income from this fund provides for an annual visiting artist, giving Gordon students an opportunity to immerse themselves in one of Britt’s quiet passions: the creative world of self-expression. The fund also provides for two annual faculty travel grants.

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The twenty-sixth Britt Nelson Visiting Artist is Kah Yangni

above: Yangni visited Gordon in December as part of the annual Book Fair. They gave a series of workshops for students, and gave an in-depth interview to the fifth and sixth grade newspaper

Gordon is thrilled to welcome Kah Yangni in 2024 as the Britt Nelson Visiting Artist. They will be on campus this month, working with students in every grade level and drawing on their rich background in printmaking, illustration, murals, and art as a tool for building communities.

This was the twenty-sixth residency sponsored by the Britt Nelson Fund, which was established in 1998 to support Gordon's commitment to hands-on art education.

They will be giving two artist talks as part of their residency, directed to students but open to parents and caregivers, Thursday, February 8th at 1:35pm and Tuesday, February 13th at 2:30pm in the Wales Theater.

Yangni was most recently in the news as the illustrator of Not He or She, I’m Me, named one of four Honor Books at the American Library Association’s 2024 Youth Media Awards

Yangni makes hyper vibrant art about justice, queerness, joy, and healing – using cut up paper, drawings, and Photoshop to show a world where people are free. Their art can be found on billboards and murals, in kids books and magazines, and on bedroom walls around the world. Their art has been shared by people like Indya Moore of the television show Pose, and they’ve been covered by NBC News and Them. Their poster work is in the permanent collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Free Library of Philadelphia. They’ve been awarded residencies with The On Being Project, Women’s Studio Workshop, and the Wedding Cake House. Kah’s first picture book, The Making of Butterflies by Zora Neale Hurston and Ibram X. Kendi, was released in March 2023.

Their work can be explored at www.kahyangni.com

Since 1998

Since its founding, the Britt Nelson Fund has brought the following artists to Gordon’s classrooms:

1998 Painter Melissa Miller
1999 Glass artist Ursula Huth
2000 Storyteller and illustrator Baba Wagué Diakité
2001 Architect Roddy Langmuir
2002 Textile artist Jeung Hwa Park
2003 Sculptor Allison Newsome
2004 Sculptor Kitty Wales
more about the 2004 program
2005 Photographer Marian Roth 
more about the 2005 program
2006 Puppeteers Dusan Petran and Aniece Novak
2007 Designer Gunnel Sahlin
2008 Painter and printmaker Joseph Norman
2009 Sculptor Ben Anderson
Illustrator Amy Bartlett Wright
Illustrator Julie Ann Collier
more about the 2009 program
2010 Illustrator Bert Kitchen
2011
featured in this video 
2012 Metalworker Jim Reynolds
2013 Bookmaker Rebecca Goodale
more about the 2013 program
2014 Ceramicist Seth Rainville
more about the 2014 program
2015 Animator Hayley Morris
more about the 2015 program
2016 Textile artist Hiroko Harada
more about the 2016 program
2017 Designer Gunnel Sahlin
more about the 2017 program
2018 Textile artist Brooke Erin Goldstein
more about the 2018 program
2019 Goldsmith Steven Lubecki
more about the 2019 program
2020
and 
2021
Ceramicist and screenprinter David Allyn
more about the 2020 and 2021 program
2022 Screenprinter Jazzmen Lee-Johnson
more about the 2022 program
2023 Sculptor Rena Rong
more about the 2023 program