The project began during my time as an English teacher at Balboa High School in San Francisco. My classroom had black mold and mice, a broken clock, and, beside it, a working one I'd bought myself. Like many teachers working within a liberation framework, I wanted the walls to reflect the social justice values I was trying to teach, but struggled on a teacher's budget to find inspiring, accessible art that reflected my students' identities. During a summer residency in 2013, I had access to a Risograph duplicator and began hand-inking quotes from Gloria Anzaldúa and Ursula K. Le Guin, printing them in two colors and giving them to other teachers. My colleagues wanted copies too, and soon they were on walls all over the school.

That response led me to wonder how I could reprise the project with other artists, offering aesthetic variety and introducing students to contemporary art they might not otherwise encounter. In 2016, I was awarded two grants: one from Oakland Stock, and another from Southern Exposure’s Alternative Exposure project to begin the project. Volume 1 of Class Set launched in 2017.

Over four volumes, I've commissioned 37 artist collaborators, including Lukaza Branfman-Verissimo, Jeffrey Cheung, Liz Hernández, Chris Johanson, Marcel Pardo Ariza, Grace Rosario Perkins, Ralph Pugay, and Chelsea Ryoko Wong, and Volume 4 was co-produced with artist Anne Greenwood Rioseco. Over 23,000 free prints have been distributed to K-12 classrooms worldwide.

Explore all four volumes, artist collaborators, and free curriculum guides at ClassSet.org.

The project began during my time as an English teacher at Balboa High School in San Francisco. My classroom had black mold and mice, a broken clock, and, beside it, a working one I'd bought myself. Like many teachers working within a liberation framework, I wanted the walls to reflect the social justice values I was trying to teach, but struggled on a teacher's budget to find inspiring, accessible art that reflected my students' identities. During a summer residency in 2013, I had access to a Risograph duplicator and began hand-inking quotes from Gloria Anzaldúa and Ursula K. Le Guin, printing them in two colors and giving them to other teachers. My colleagues wanted copies too, and soon they were on walls all over the school.

That response led me to wonder how I could reprise the project with other artists, offering aesthetic variety and introducing students to contemporary art they might not otherwise encounter. In 2016, I was awarded two grants: one from Oakland Stock, and another from Southern Exposure’s Alternative Exposure project to begin the project. Volume 1 of Class Set launched in 2017.

Over four volumes, I've commissioned 37 artist collaborators, including Lukaza Branfman-Verissimo, Jeffrey Cheung, Liz Hernández, Chris Johanson, Marcel Pardo Ariza, Grace Rosario Perkins, Ralph Pugay, and Chelsea Ryoko Wong, and Volume 4 was co-produced with artist Anne Greenwood Rioseco. Over 23,000 free prints have been distributed to K-12 classrooms worldwide.

Explore all four volumes, artist collaborators, and free curriculum guides at ClassSet.org.