Connecting with Teachers, Part II

These e-mails should speak for themselves. Finding student art might be tricky.

Connecting with Teachers

I feel bold. Contacting Israel Sanchez was one thing, but contacting a teacher who posted a Where the Red Fern Grows art project online four years ago for her middle school class is even scarier. Why'd I do it? It's cool to see how professional artists have visually reacted to Where the Red Fern Grows, but I want to see how the target audience uses art to express their interaction with the text. So, I need to go to the source. Here's the e-mail I wrote:

Mrs. Braxton,

 

I am an English Teaching major at Brigham Young University in Provo, UT. I am currently taking a class called Writing Literary Criticism in the Digital Age, and I'm doing a project (via my blog) on visual art responses to Where the Red Fern Grows and how they tend to more closely convey the emotions experienced while interacting with the novel than do written responses.

 

While researching the topic, I stumbled upon your website. I recognize it is from 2007, and perhaps a lot has changed since then, but I was wondering if you have any examples of student art based on the book that I could see. With the appropriate permission and citation, I would love to display some of these pieces on my blog for my classmates and other scholars to see.

 

The project you designed for Where the Red Fern Grows looks wonderful. Thank you for your time and your consideration.

 

Sincerely,

 

Amy Whitaker

I'll probably use almost the exact same e-mail (with minor necessary changes, of course) to contact other instructors who have used art as a way to explore Where the Red Fern Grows with their students. Hopefully I'll hear back from someone soon.

Illustrator Israel Sanchez's Response

Here is Mr. Sanchez's response to my e-mail. I am incredibly impressed by his generosity and his understanding of the importance of collaboration. What a wonderful, professional artist.

"Championship Coon Hunt to Be Held," by Israel Sanchez

I thought I'd go ahead and provide just a taste of Mr. Sanchez's work. I'll provide more of his art and analyze the significance of his artistic contribution to (or remix of) Where the Red Fern Grows in posts to come.