11Art teacher James Rees is constantly looking for new projects to instruct his students and recently dispatched them into the community to find people from diverse cultures. The students were instructed to interview the subject and make a portrait including words that would describe their personality.

"I was trying to get them to get a different perspective," he said.

Rees said students interviewed other students or people in the community who were born in another country. While they may have known the subjects slightly, Rees said the project helped students to get to know a deeper part of their subjects.

"A lot of them, it just opened their eyes," he said.

Students were told to find out about the educational experiences of their subjects and to dig into their background in their home country. Rees said if the students and others can understand where the immigrants are coming from, they will be more sensitive and have less prejudice.

"They've gained an appreciation for some of the students in their classroom," he said.

Rees said this is the first time he has tried this project and he may make adjustments in the future. Students pointed out that everyone comes from a unique background in their families, and Rees said the project may include subjects native to the United States next time.

"You don't need to be from another country to have a different culture," he said.

Rees said the project has changed the students, who appear to be more sensitive in the classroom. It may also affect the community, as the artwork has been put up for display on University Avenue in front of the Zions Bank project.

"I thought it would be an ideal situation to put those out in a public setting," he said.

Provo is an increasingly international community, Rees said, and the project has growing relevance to his students. Putting the art on display made the assignment more significant to students.

"I think they were a little more thoughtful, took it a little more seriously," he said.

Leaving the art out in the open invites the community to be an active participant in the display, for good and for bad. People have left comments above some of the portraits, while other portraits have simply "walked away" in the last month and a half. Rees said the possibility the art would disappear was made known to the students, who were not upset by the prospect, because only laminated copies were put up for display.

Rees said the art will remain until it all disappears, and students will be working on another project to fill any empty spaces in the meantime.

"We kind of feel like we want to keep the space used while it's still there," he said.

A lot of cars and pedestrians pass the artwork every day, and Rees said he hopes the pieces will make an impact. Kevin Garcia, a junior in the art class, said he thinks observers will be affected by the backgrounds of the people portrayed. Garcia painted a portrait of his grandfather, who was originally from El Salvador.

Although he knows his grandfather well, Garcia said the assignment was an opportunity to dig deeper into his grandfather's past. Garcia learned the man dropped out of school in fourth grade to help his mother provide for the family.

"When he grew up, it was a hard time for him," Garcia said. "He didn't really get out much as a kid."

Garcia said he learned life is not always about having fun and sometimes sacrifices have to be made. He said it was good to see all the differences in the world and he hopes his art will help portray them to the public.

Jordan Griffin, a senior in the class, said she enjoyed the project but wishes passers-by could know more about the subjects who are portrayed.

"I wish we could actually have our stories about these people out there," she said.

Griffin said she wishes observers could see the inspiration for their portraits, such as her depiction of her friend who moved from Japan several years ago. The assignment helped her to see what other cultures are like and she gained a better respect for how diverse people can be.

"I knew that people from other cultures were different, but I didn't understand how different it could be," she said.