When the van pulls up, kids know it’s something good: An alum goes on the road for art

For five decades, art educator, alum and former faculty member Jennifer de Grassi Williams (MA, art education, 1977) has headed Project Van Go-a name that nods to the famous painter while hinting at de Grassi Williams' seemingly ceaseless energy. On her own dime, she drives her van, loaded with art supplies, to rural school districts in need of free art classes. A team of fellow Boise State art education alumni accompanies her with even more lessons and materials. They make several outings each year.

de Grassi Williams knows her business. She was inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame in 2016 and named Idaho Teacher of the Year in 2002. Other honors include the NEA Teaching Excellence Award, U.S. West Teacher of the Year, the Governor's Award in Art Education and recognition as Idaho Art Teacher of the Year three times. Boise State has celebrated her among its Distinguished Alumni and Women Making History.

She has enlisted children to paint murals. A mural in Prairie, Idaho, was in progress from 1980 to 2025. "They protect it as if it were a national treasure," de Grassi Williams said. She has helped students make handmade paper. Her van has even carried portable pottery wheels to schools so kids can throw pots. She has shown them how to transform gourds into rattles and so much more.

Alum Stephanie Lewis (BA, elementary education, 2015) is the head teacher in the one-room schoolhouse in Prairie, Idaho's smallest school district [readers of Boise State Magazine may remember a 2023 feature about the College of Education and rural education that featured Prairie]. Lewis oversees the education of seven students spread over six grades with help from a part-time assistant teacher.

"Van Go is a special part of our community, a collective memory," Lewis said. de Grassi Williams has shared art lessons there with generations of families.

"Especially in our environment where resources can be limited, having certified art teachers come in with such knowledge and materials to host an entire art day. It brings so much to the table-opportunities we would miss out on without them."

Beyond Van Go

de Grassi Williams was born and raised in Oakland, California, and moved to Mountain Home, Idaho, in 1972. She was among the first graduates of Boise State's master's program in art education. She taught high school art in Mountain Home and in Nampa, Idaho, before joining Boise State, where she spent 34 years teaching art courses like batik-the fabric-dyeing technique on which she wrote a textbook-and supervising student teachers in the art education program.

A lover of animals, she is committed to animal rescue. de Grassi Williams has written 16 children's books about the creatures she has known. A sample title: "The Williams Family and MJ the Red Knee Tarantula." She donates proceeds from her book sales to the Garden City Community Cats Project, a nonprofit that cares for and neuters feral cats. She shares her home with 12 turtles "and many other sentient creatures," she said. Those creatures frequently accompany her on Van Go trips. de Grassi Williams and her husband, Kirk, a retired teacher and basketball coach at Borah High in Boise, have four children and six grandchildren.

de Grassi Williams shared more of her story.

Tell us about your first job teaching art.

It was in Mountain Home. I loaded a bunch of my art projects into my car and drove to the district office to ask about art positions. They told me to go to the high school, so I did and introduced myself to the principal. He came out to the parking lot and looked inside my car. He saw all the art projects and said, 'Room 32.' And that was it. I got the job.

How and when did Project Van Go begin?

It started in 1976 when I was teaching at Mountain Home High School. I had students there who were from Prairie. One told me that the Prairie school didn't have an art program. So I said, let's take the art up there. My art students and I packed sack lunches and loaded my van with art supplies. I had every alternative or at-risk kid in my art room. The kids in Prairie didn't get visitors. My alternative kids didn't get a lot of praise. It was a perfect match. My students loved it when the van would pull up to the school and the Prairie kids would run out and embrace them. For perhaps the first time in their lives, my students felt like they mattered to somebody.

Tell us about more of your other on-the-road adventures.

We've been to Utah and Nevada. We frequently went to Yellowpine, Idaho. On one trip, we were four hours late because of all the boulders in the road. We spent the night in the schoolhouse and woke up to a herd of elk in the schoolyard. It was amazing.

We've been skunked. We've been lost. In Almo, Idaho, we drove on a road that was solid flint. It was like driving on shards of glass. We got two flat tires. A farmer came along and asked us what in the world we were doing. But he helped us fix our tires.

I remember a time in Atlanta, Idaho. We were teaching mask-making. We always make the teachers participate in our lessons, so we were plastering the teacher's face when the school phone rang. A student answered and said, 'Sorry, Mrs. Inama can't come to the phone right now because she's plastered.' It was the district office calling.

You've accomplished so much so far…what's next?

Teaching my grandkids the same things I wanted to teach my students. How to navigate roadblocks that are not important. You must not lose yourself in someone else's mess. And take a stand when it matters [in a move that made the local news, de Grassi Williams left a teaching job she loved at a school after administrators painted over student murals].

I think I don't dare stop. I love education and I think that shows. You cannot pretend to have passion for something; you just can't. Or if you can, you're in the wrong business. Students know when you are authentic.

The Van Go alumni team

Annemarie Antilla (BA, art education K-12, 2010), Lisa Hunter ( BFA, art, 2010) and Sarah Sessions (K-12 graduate teaching certification, 2009).

After being named Idaho Junior High Art Teacher of the Year in 2024, Sarah Sessions began teaching at Boise High in 2025. She became a member of the Van Go team when she was studying at Boise State and de Grassi Williams was her supervisor. Like the other teachers, she brings her expertise into classrooms. She has taught lessons in paint pouring (pouring liquid paint to make abstract patterns), cyanotypes (a sunlight-based blue printing process), nature weaving and silk screen printing.

"When we travel, we want to maximize our time," Sessions said. "We bring it."

Her admiration for Williams runs deep. "She saw that I didn't have family in the area (Sessions grew up in Alabama). I've stayed connected to her and call her my Idaho mom," Sessions said. "She takes care of me and I know I'm not the only person who has that kind of relationship with her."

One standout memory from all the road trips? Celebrating Williams' 40th year of teaching in Prairie some years ago. "The whole town showed up for a potluck. Parents, kids, even people who just heard she was coming. And of course," Sessions added, "we all made art together."

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