Hazelwood Elementary School 2025
In the fall of 2024, a team of artists from Jack Straw and Arts and Visually Impaired Audiences worked with students at Hazelwood Elementary School in Edmonds on projects with blind and visually impaired students, as well as the broader student population.
In October, for Blindness Awareness Month, pianist/composer Erfan Karimi, an alumnus of Jack Straw’s Blind Youth Audio Project and our work with Seattle World School, visited Hazelwood to share his music and story with the students there. Erfan played classical and original compositions on the piano, and talked with Jack Straw’s Carlos Nieto about his life, from growing up blind in Tehran to studying at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle. Hazelwood students also had an opportunity to ask Erfan their own questions.
From October to November, Jack Straw Artists Bill Horist and Jessica Lurie led Elizabeth Wedderburn’s class of blind and visually impaired students – Michael, Jolee, Tanzil, Nicole, Addison, and Maverick – in a four-week residency to create their own poetry and music pieces.
For their first session, Bill and Jessica talked with the kids about music and explained the pantoum, a poetry form that employs repetition. Students began writing, focusing on different things that made them happy.
Over the following weeks, the students continued working on their writing, helped by Bill, Jessica, and Ms. Wedderburn. After talking with the students about what kind of music they liked and how they wanted their pieces to sound, Bill and Jessica composed music to accompany the students’ poems. On the third week, Bill recorded the students’ vocals at school, and for the final session everyone listened to their work together.
“Working with Jack Straw was fun. It was fun to write a poem and turn it into a song. Recording was fun. I have never recorded a song before. Hearing my voice was funny.”
“Working with Jack Straw was exciting. It was exciting to make our own song. I have never written a song before. I got to write about my mom.”
“Having Jack Straw come to our school was fun. We got to do a recording of our poem to music. I never recorded anything before. Hearing my voice was funny.”
“I liked writing about cars. Listening to my friend recording my words was fun.”
“I love music and was excited to make my own song. Recording was my favorite part. I felt like a rock star. I liked learning about recording and what kind of equipment is used.”
These projects were produced with the generous support of the Agostinho Rodrigues Trust, Harvest Foundation, and the Washington State Arts Commission.
The Jack Straw artist team included Erfan Karimi, Bill Horist, Jessica Lurie, Carlos Nieto, designer Levi Fuller, and Executive Director Joan Rabinowitz. Special thanks to the students of Hazelwood Elementary and Hazelwood staff.
We especially want to thank music teacher Jack White and Teacher of the Visually Impaired Elizabeth Wedderburn, who helped make this project possible.
