Intisar Abioto is an artist and explorer working across photography, dance, and writing. As a storyteller, her works capture the many narratives of peoples of African descent across various geographic regions. She is also the curator of the monumental exhibition, Black Artists of Oregon, recently shown at the Portland Museum of Art. 

For her KSMoCA exhibition, Abioto will showcase a photography series that focuses on Black and Indigenous stewards of the land across various landscapes—family farms, gardens, and other rural domains. As such, we thought it would be fitting that this exhibition also include our favorite steward at Dr. MLK Jr. school, the incomparable Ms. Ruby Sims!

For over fifteen years, Ms. Ruby has served tasty and nutritious meals to students, emphasizing the importance of fresh fruits and vegetables. As an avid gardener and herbalist, she is passionate about wellness and strongly believes in the healing power of plants. The exhibit features a portrait of Ms. Ruby by Abioto taken in the park next to the school.

For this exhibition’s accompanying workshops, Ms. Ruby led a “touch, smell, taste” session with Ms. De Lara-Vargas’ kindergarten class, where students had the opportunity to taste and learn more about her favorite herbs. In a second workshop, the students generated a creative response to the first workshop, adding drawings of their favorite herbs to t-shirts. After the workshop, they wore their shirts to the cafeteria, surprising Ms. Ruby with a “Kinder GARDEN Parade” through the lunch line. Documentation of both workshops will be exhibited with Abioto’s photography series.

The exhibit opening takes place in the Cafetorium hallway. Please stop by the Main Office to sign in and receive a “Visitor” badge.

Intisar Abioto is an artist and explorer working across photography, dance, and writing. As a storyteller, her works capture the many narratives of peoples of African descent across various geographic regions. She is also the curator of the monumental exhibition, Black Artists of Oregon, recently shown at the Portland Museum of Art. 

For her KSMoCA exhibition, Abioto will showcase a photography series that focuses on Black and Indigenous stewards of the land across various landscapes—family farms, gardens, and other rural domains.

The artist talk takes place in the school library. Please stop by the Main Office to sign in and receive a “Visitor” badge.

Sadé DuBoise is KSMoCA’s Winter 2024 artist-in-residence. At KSMoCA, DuBoise led two workshops with Ms. Tran’s second grade class, where she helped students create their own portraits in nature. During the first workshop students had their portraits taken in their favorite outdoor spaces, which they later transferred onto watercolor paper. They were then instructed to select prompts that encouraged them to think creatively about their experiences in nature. During the second workshop students were encouraged to reinterpret their photos however they saw fit as DuBoise led them through the process of painting their portraits. The workshops were designed to not just teach painting techniques but to also connect the students with nature and their own creative expressions. It was a joy to see their individual perspectives and connections to the outdoors come to life through their artwork,” said DuBoise.

The exhibit opening takes place in the Cafetorium hallway. Please stop by the Main Office to sign in and receive a “Visitor” badge.

Sadé DuBoise is KSMoCA’s Winter 2024 artist-in-residence. DuBoise is an acrylic painter, visual storyteller, and orator of Black experience(s) in the Pacific Northwest. Growing up in Oregon—specifically NE Portland—she developed a deep appreciation for nature at a young age, which has greatly influenced her painting practice. DuBoise’s work explores the experiences of multi-racial people, predominantly Black folks and their connectedness to the great outdoors. She considers her work sociopolitical, and seeks to dispel the notion that Black folks prefer urban settings because they fear nature. She does this by painting portraits of Black people, namely Black women, in various outdoor settings that she has personally visited while hiking and backpacking. Her latest series, A Moment Outside, which she created specifically for this residency, consists of 14 small portraits of women in natural settings that capture brief, yet significant moments of being in nature. 

DuBoise is a painter who considers her practice as a sacred place to reflect on her identity, existence, and life experiences. She recently received a BFA in painting from Willamette University/Pacific Northwest College of Art. Her paintings have been exhibited at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art and were included in the Black Artists of Oregon exhibition at the Portland Art Museum.

The artist talk takes place in the school library. Please stop by the Main Office to sign in and receive a “Visitor” badge.

At KSMoCA Mr. Brown collaborated with PSU students to facilitate a workshop in Ms. Maalaea’s first grade class, inspired by the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”. He believes that if children are given space to think deeply about this question, they can take steps to actualize their dreams.

Additionally, we invited professionals from the community that represented occupations students desired to learn more about. College students from PSU paired with the first graders to interview the visitors as Mr. Brown photographed their interactions. During a follow-up workshop, the first grade students augmented poster-sized portraits of themselves depicting their future selves working in their dream professions.

These works will be exhibited alongside images from Mr. Brown’s “There’s Magic in Dreams” series created in the late 1980s/early 1990s.

The exhibit opening takes place in the cafetorium hallway. Please stop by the Main Office to sign in and receive a “Visitor” pass to the school.

Update, 1/17/24: This event was originally scheduled for Thursday, January 18, 2024.

We are proud to have the incomparable Mr. Richard Brown as our Fall 2023 artist-in-residence. Mr. Brown is a local photographer and community activist that has been a fixture in the Black community for over 50 years. Not only has he documented the lives of generations of Black Portlanders, he has also worked tirelessly to address issues that affect the Black community.

Mr. Richard Brown is an activist and photographer whose work highlights what it means to be Black in Portland, Oregon. He takes photographs of the Black community, showcasing who they are and what kinds of lives they have.

He has been an activist for many years, and is passionate about helping police build better relationships with the communities they serve.

Mr. Brown has lived and worked in Portland for over 50 years. He began his career taking photographs for The Portland Observer, the city’s oldest Black-run newspaper, showcasing Black community members of all ages and backgrounds. He especially enjoys interacting with students and asking them what they might want to be when they grow up.

He is also very passionate about sharing Black history. One of Mr. Brown’s continuing projects is a weekly newsletter called The Talking Drum. It includes historical facts, current events affecting Black people, and comics created by Black cartoonists and from all over the United States. Mr. Brown also wrote a book titled, This Is Not For You, that highlights his years in Portland, mapping out his activist journey with the city and its people. 

The artist talk takes place in the school library. Please stop by the Main Office to sign in and receive a “Visitor” pass to the school.

Update, 1/17/24: This event was originally scheduled for Thursday, January 18, 2024.

Retratos y Sueños (Portraits and Dreams) is based on a 1991 project Wendy did with Maya, Ladino, and Tzotzil children living in Chiapas, Mexico, guiding her students in taking their own pictures of their daily lives, dreams, desires, and fantasies. At KSMoCA, college students mentored elementary school students to take photos of their dreams and lives at home and school. Wendy Ewald is KSMoCA’s 2022–2023 artist in residence. 

Wendy Ewald is KSMoCA’s 2022–2023 artist in residence. For over 40 years, she has worked on photography projects around the world with children, families, women, and teachers. At Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School she collaborated on three projects with students, teachers, and Portland State University students: Reading Pictures, Retratos y Sueños (Portraits and Dreams), and a project inspired by her work with Maya, Ladino, and Tzotzil children living in Chiapas, Mexico. Reading Pictures explores Teaching and Learning through Photography and is based on Wendy’s collaboration with partners in Tanzania from the past ten years to create photographic teaching materials for school curriculums. She currently works with the University of Dodoma to develop posters that are used in classrooms to connect learning through pictures. Dr. MLK Jr. School teachers and students collaborated with PSU students to make their own versions. Retratos y Sueños (Portraits and Dreams) is based on a 1991 project Wendy did in Chiapas, Mexico, guiding her students in taking their own pictures of their daily lives, dreams, desires, and fantasies. At KSMoCA, college students mentored elementary school students to take photos of their dreams and lives at home and school. The Best Part of Me asks every student in the school “What is the best part of you?” and pairs their written answer with a photograph of their best part.

Wendy Ewald was born in Detroit, MI, in 1951. She has received many honors, including a MacArthur Fellowship, a Guggenheim fellowship, and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Andy Warhol Foundation, the Rauschenberg Foundation, and the Fulbright Commission. She has had solo exhibitions nationally and internationally and her work is documented in books and a recent film.

Wendy Ewald is KSMoCA’s 2022–2023 artist in residence. For over 40 years, she has worked on photography projects around the world with children, families, women, and teachers. At Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School she collaborated on three projects with students, teachers, and Portland State University students: Reading Pictures, Retratos y Sueños (Portraits and Dreams), and a project inspired by her work with Maya, Ladino, and Tzotzil children living in Chiapas, Mexico. Reading Pictures explores Teaching and Learning through Photography and is based on Wendy’s collaboration with partners in Tanzania from the past ten years to create photographic teaching materials for school curriculums. She currently works with the University of Dodoma to develop posters that are used in classrooms to connect learning through pictures. Dr. MLK Jr. School teachers and students collaborated with PSU students to make their own versions. Retratos y Sueños (Portraits and Dreams) is based on a 1991 project Wendy did in Chiapas, Mexico, guiding her students in taking their own pictures of their daily lives, dreams, desires, and fantasies. At KSMoCA, college students mentored elementary school students to take photos of their dreams and lives at home and school. The Best Part of Me asks every student in the school “What is the best part of you?” and pairs their written answer with a photograph of their best part.

Wendy Ewald was born in Detroit, MI, in 1951. She has received many honors, including a MacArthur Fellowship, a Guggenheim fellowship, and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Andy Warhol Foundation, the Rauschenberg Foundation, and the Fulbright Commission. She has had solo exhibitions nationally and internationally and her work is documented in books and a recent film.

Welcome to My Happy Place is an exhibition curated by Rose, a fifth grader at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School and Dr. Kiara “Kiki” Hill, a professor in the School of Art + Design at PSU, that invites viewers to experience the magic that is the Dr Martin Luther King Jr School Museum of Contemporary Art (KSMoCA). KSMoCA is unique in that it’s a contemporary art museum housed inside of a public school that provides students and staff the opportunity to regularly engage with art and artists. On any given day you can walk the halls at Dr. MLK Jr. School and see student artwork of varying styles adorn the walls, engendering an atmosphere of creativity that serves to uplift and inspire anyone that walks into the space. This is the feeling we wanted to bring to this exhibition. The student work in this show is only a small part of our permanent collection. We curated these pieces to show the love and labor that makes KSMoCA a happy place for all. We hope you enjoy. –Rose and Kiki