A week after the 9/11 WTC event, the collage project that Nell Ruby and her class had been working on in a basic design classroom lacked relevance. They had been working from master works, analyzing hue and value relationships, color schemes, shape, and composition. The master works seemed unimportant because of the immense emotional impact of the event that had permeated the community and the world. Two ideas came to Ruby. First, although the administration had asked the faculty to try to "go back to normal life," Ruby was having trouble thinking about anything unrelated to the incident and its impact upon consciousness. Second, it is strong emotions that are the impetus for great art. She began to think that if she could tap into this emotion and successfully guide the class through the process of creative visual expression, the learning could be profound. This article describes a project that preempted the master works project. Ruby reports that the rigorous approach to the project resulted in technically strong solutions that show a sound understanding of the principles of design and form. She describes the end results as more profound than mundane.