A Legacy Lives On

‘She Made Incredible Artists Out of All Of Us’: Former Pali High Student Honors Late Teacher Sherrill Kahn

By LILY TINOCO | Assistant Editor

The role teachers play in students’ lives is immeasurable, they have the opportunity to push their students to great heights and make an impact—and, throughout her career and beyond, late Palisades Charter High School art teacher Sherrill Kahn did just that.

Alumna Cathy Salser now hopes to carry Kahn’s legacy on with a special scholarship in her memory, since her passing in December 2023.

Kahn was a distinguished artist and author. She was a teacher for Los Angeles Unified School District for 30 years. She taught at Pali High from 1966 to 1992, teaching students to draw, paint and design.

In her own time, she created a wide variety of art—including fiberart, clay art and rubber stamping—and enjoyed traveling. After retiring, she taught her different techniques across the world, through the United States, Canada, England, India and beyond.

Salser met Kahn when she was a student at Paul Revere Charter Middle School. Kahn led a summer trip exploring museums in Europe with her husband Joel, who coached the Pali High cross country and track teams.

“I first met her there … Then, as my high school art teacher, she really nurtured and encouraged me,” Salser reminisced. “She was a thriving, furious art teacher, in the best way. She wanted all of her students to really excel.”

It was with Kahn’s encouragement that Salser participated in the Arts Recognition and Talent Search (now YoungArts) where Salser was honored as a presidential scholar in the arts in 1984.

“There’s a chain of us that she encouraged to excel and use art in a powerful way … I was a presidential scholar awardee and that was all because of her,” Salser said. “I would not have been looking at these things … and one of her students that I have connected with, especially in her passing, was also a future masters awardee.”

That other student is Wesla Weller, who grew up in the Palisades and was Kahn’s student from 1976-79 at Pali High.

“I consider her to be one of the most important people in my life, really,” Weller said to the Palisadian-Post.

Weller went on to attend art school in New York and is now a professional artist.

“She made incredible artists out of all of us,” Salser said.

After graduating from Williams College with a degree in studio art, Salser set out on an art tour in 1991, conducting art sessions at domestic violence shelters.

“It was maybe the first time the individuals I was with had a moment to ask, ‘What am I going through? What do I want to go from and toward? And how can I create an object that anchors that journey?’” Salser explained.

She said art became a space for the victims to express their truth and hold onto it.

“When I went back two years [later], one woman … had her art hanging from her rearview mirror,” Salser said. “It was like a compass that had helped her stay grounded through the process of change. It was so powerful that I began to train others and it grew in the ’90s.”

This marked the founding of A Window Between Worlds.

“When I began in 1991, I actually didn’t intend to create an organization,” Salser said to the Post in 2012. “I was walking through a forest with a friend and she asked me, ‘What is your greatest vision?’ I said my greatest vision would be to travel around the country and share art that would make a difference.”

Now, A Window Between Worlds is a nonprofit arts organization that supports direct service organizations across the country to “incorporate creative expression into their work with trauma survivors,” according to the organization.

In the beginning, Salser said Kahn would join her, contributing her wisdom and innovation. And for over 20 years, she would contribute art supplies, as well.

“She has been a part of this whole journey, sharing ideas, art supplies,” Salser said. “When her husband passed, she began to think about the legacy she wanted to leave, and she told me she wanted to give a major gift to A Window Between Worlds and made that really powerful decision. She wanted to do it while she was living and helped launch what we’ve called the Tomorrow Fund.”

In 2017, Salser sat down with Kahn to discuss her intentions and hopes for the seed she was planting with the Tomorrow Fund. She recorded the conversation in an effort to honor Kahn’s spirit—Salser said she wants Kahn’s voice to be heard and felt, forever.

“You can’t take the money with you when someday you pass away,” Kahn said in the recording, uploaded January 10. “It’s the people you touch in your life along the way that will be the most important journey you ever take … because that is what our life is about.

“This is for A Window Between Worlds … My wish is that the world would be at peace and accept differences in anybody around them … I’d sure love to see more art because I think art is a great bridge between people, and knocks down barriers.”

Toward the end of the conversation, Kahn said she loves Salser “in more words than are in the dictionary.”

“She didn’t have kids herself, biologically, but I became like a daughter,” Salser said. “We spoke to each other that way.”

Salser said Kahn’s gift will serve in perpetuity, to support how A Window Between Worlds nurtures a “circle of innovation, using art to transform karma.”

“With her legacy gift, her focus was on creating lasting pathways through which art can bridge barriers, build empathy and create acceptance across differences,” Salser added. “Wesla and I were reflecting on how powerful it is that her former students will actually get to hear Sherrill’s voice one more time, after all these years … Our teachers really do live on through us.”

Kahn passed away at the age of 82 in Encino, California, on Sunday, December 10, 2023. Inspired by Kahn’s impact and legacy, Salser launched a campaign in her memory, “A Celebration of Life Memorial,” on Tuesday, March 12.

For the campaign, Salser encouraged donors to contribute the amount that reflects the number of years Kahn taught.

“If you feel inspired to support the work of A Window Between Worlds with a donation in [Kahn’s] honor, your support will help create a special training scholarship in her memory,” according to the campaign. “Every gift, no matter the size, makes a difference. The entire AWBW community thanks and celebrates Sherrill for her commitment to using art as a bridge to overcome barriers and build understanding, connection and care.”

For more information or to make a donation, visit bit.ly/SherrillKahn.