Yoo-A Kang’s first years in the States were lonely. She had left her South Korean home to follow her ex-husband to Minnesota, where he was a doctoral student. Her inability to speak English made simple tasks like going to the laundromat difficult.

“I did not have time to learn English, because I was taking care of my baby,” she said. Making friends was nearly impossible.

For a time, her family bounced back and forth between countries. Then, a few years ago, she joined her daughter and son-in-law in South Bend and enrolled in English classes through South Bend’s Adult Education program.

“I have taken other English classes, but they last only a short time -- four weeks,” she said. “I wanted to take more English, so I searched around and chose Bendix. Bendix offers ongoing classes and really focuses on teaching English.”

She also decided she wanted a job, but didn’t know what a woman her age could do. As a young woman, she had earned a degree in design and dreamed of being an artist. Her children thought perhaps she could use a reminder of those dreams. So for Christmas, they bought her some printmaking tools.

It worked. After a year, her son-in-law encouraged her to apply to the gallery at the John Waldron Arts Center in Bloomington. Yoo-A was nervous, but her improved English skills gave her the courage to try. Her classmates weighed in on their favorite pieces and ideas for an exhibit name and offered their encouragement.

In late 2017, she sent the gallery a biography and six pieces of art. The gallery loved her work and booked her for a June 2018 exhibit titled, “d [ae] ji: women & land / on rising.” But that was just the beginning.