The 5th Grade Safety Patrol High Vizibility Crosswalk Spectacular
Becca Kauffman and Mo Geiger with the Dr. MLK Jr. Elementary School 5th Grade Safety Patrol with textile materials donated by Niek Pulles and the Nike materials lab.
Supported by PICA Precipice Fund and Andy Warhol Foundation
The luminescent hues of safety orange, neon yellow, and retroreflective silver create the palette for hi-visibility workwear, a standardized form of safety apparel designated for construction workers, flaggers, and any job performed in or near oncoming traffic. In this project, we teamed up with the Dr. MLK Jr. School 5th grade Safety Patrol, a group of 14 junior crossing guards, to design their own custom uniforms using the hi-viz color scheme and visual symbology of street signs. The new line of Safety Patrol vests and handprint flags debuted at a participatory pedestrian parade and celebration of visibility at the school’s newly painted crosswalk.
Previously, the school rotated 4 vests among the group of 14 safety patrollers, and in this we saw a need for individual uniforms. During workshops in preparation for the parade, we discussed the imagery of traffic guidance and the significance of communicating with others for greater public safety. We worked with each of the students to design “dream vests” which then were distilled into our found and donated materials that represented the hi-vis family of neon orange, yellow, black, and reflective traffic-glam.
The parade was accompanied by a soundtrack mixed by DJ Sappho, and concluded with the premiere of Wake Up, an original track created by Jagz — elementary school students in the King School Museum of Contemporary Art (KSMoCA) mentorship program. Production of the track was led by the student’s mentor, Lyberty Udochu.
The Gatherade Stand
Gilian Rappaport with Alexis Johnson (fifth grade teacher)
The Gatherade Stand is a co-authored art project in the form of a lemonade stand that served drinks made from wild-foraged plants and created opportunities for collaborative creativity centering those same plants. Gilian Rappaport, alongside elementary school teacher Alexis Johnson and her fifth grade class. The project aimed to encourage the connection of students and their communities to the natural world through gatherings around wild plants. The spring season focused on the nettle plant. The platform supported community building, nature education, and cross-disciplinary art making through weekly workshops on site at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School from April 26 - June 6, 2022 that focused on collaging, drawing, poetry and spoken word inspired by the nettle plant, as well as a soda making workshop with foraged nettle leaves – all of which happened on site at the school.
The art made in the workshops came together to form interactive installations that were open to students on the school playground, and in their library. There, students served the nettle sodas, canned with labels made of prints of their original artwork and names. At this critical time of climate catastrophe, this project asks: how does nature education fit into the curriculums of urban, public schools - especially in rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods? What does it look like when elementary school students share the messages they hear from nature? How do we share and celebrate those messages? What stories naturally stick, and what connections become possible?
Gilian began by serving nettle tea to the students. They created a large wooden sign that proudly appropriates Gatorade branding reading “The Gatherade Stand” in response to the student’s interest. The students made visual artworks that responded to the prompt: “If a nettle plant made a protest sign, what would it say?” Gilian hosted a table at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School Celebration Day at the school with a collaging workshop inspired by shapes of nettle leaves. Further workshops facilitated song and spoken word and poetry writing about and for the nettle plant and making soda from dried nettle leaves inside a school classroom. They canned the soda with Mike Lockwood of Duality Brewing, and chose student artworks and names for the can labels. They made placemats featuring names for the nettle plant in languages spoken across the student body, alongside new original names created by the students. They invited DJ and composer DJ Tikka Masala (aka Janhavi Pakrashi) to collaborate on an original audio piece about nettle. Artist Bex Copper made portraits with the students, the sign, and the cans during a pop-up on the playground at the school. Gilian interviewed Alexis Johnson about her experience as a collaborator on the project. Gilian also interviewed Nellie Scott, director of the Corita Art Center in Los Angeles about Sister Corita Kent and her history with pop art as a strategy to reach a public with her messages of justice and peace for SOFA Journal’s Spring 2022 issue. Gilian, Ms. Johnson, and the students created an interactive installation in the library of the elementary school, known as The Gatherade Stand 01.
I Want Everyone To Know
Laura Glazer with Ms. Melodie Adams and students, teachers, staff, parents at Dr. MLK Jr. School
“Ms. Melodie Adams is a first grade teacher at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School in Portland, Oregon, where she has worked for 14 years. She drew a portrait of civil rights activist Ruby Bridges and displayed it on the door to her classroom in celebration of Black History Month in February 2022. I saw the artwork at the beginning of the month and was awestruck by the drawing. I was so inspired by the texture and dimensionality of the hair that I photographed the work and returned for a second look at it the following week. I remember thinking: the person who made this is very inspired and really knows what they’re doing. I noticed that other doors in the school were decorated, too, and then I photographed each one.
I learn in the King School community, too, as a graduate student in the Art and Social Practice MFA Program at Portland State University. Each week I attend class at the school because the MFA Program co-directors founded a contemporary art museum embedded within the school called the Dr. MLK Jr. School Museum of Contemporary Art (KSMoCA).
One day after class, I was introduced to Ms. Adams. I was very excited to find out that she was the artist behind the drawing of Ruby Bridges and I felt like a fangirl meeting my idol for the first time. A few weeks later we talked about her drawing practice, the Black History Month Doors, and what parts of her personal and professional life led to the project.
As I listened to Ms. Adams, I kept thinking: I want everyone to hear what she says. Like how her curiosity led her to travel outside the United States to explore her genealogical roots in Nigeria. Or that she chose Ruby Bridges because she wants her students to know that even as young people they have the power to change their worlds. And that despite no one in her early life encouraging her to go beyond what felt possible, she found so many ways to do just that.
Around this time, I learned about poet, activist, and educator June Jordan’s 1970 speech to school librarians, in which she encouraged them to bring young children into libraries by asking them to write their own books about what they want everybody to know or what they think is important but that nobody seems to care about. I used Jordan’s advice as the framework for sharing Ms. Adams’ stories and work with a broader audience in I Want Everyone to Know: The Black History Month Doors at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School, a book I published in May 2022 with KSMoCA. It includes an extended interview with Ms. Adams and photo documentation of the artwork on all of the classroom doors created for Black History Month by over 300 artists who are students, teachers, staff, parents, and supporters of the school—a collection of what this community of learners and educators want everyone to know.
This project was shared during a keynote interview as part of Assembly, the MFA Program’s annual co-authored art and social practice conference. I interviewed Ms. Adams about what she wants everyone to know which is available to watch on YouTube. After the interview, we celebrated the launch of the book with refreshments in the school library.”
—Laura Glazer
🏀N-E-I-G-H-B-O-R🏀
Lillyanne Phạm (LP) and Lomarion posters riso'd with Raveena at APANO's Mobile Art Studio.
🏀N-E-I-G-H-B-O-R🏀 (2022) is a collaborative non-competitive basketball game inspired by a traditional basketball game P-I-G.
To get Lomarion excited about coming to school and comfortable with planning an art project, rain or shine, LP and Lomarion played basketball, especially P-I-G since LP didn't know regular basketball game rules. The more they played, the more they bonded. The more they missed the hoop, the more they forgot they were competing against each other. And it was still fun.
For Assembly, LP and Lomarion edited P-I-G to help people get to know each other and encourage people to try out playing basketball without worrying about being good or winning. After a person made a basketball shot, the same person would ask their teammates a question associated with a letter in the word NEIGHBOR. The questions for each letter were created by Lomarion. Once 8 shots were successfully made and 8 questions were asked between teammates, the whole team would win and the game would be done.
N for Names - What are your Names?
E for Eat - What do you like to Eat?
I for Identities - What are your Identities?
G for Gross - What Grosses you out?
H for Home - Where do you call Home?
B for Believe - What do you Believe in?
O for Ocean - What is your favorite Ocean?
R for Rapper - Who is your favorite Rapper?
KSMoCA a Puerta Abierta / KSMoCA with Open Doors
Guided tour by Diana Marcela Cuartas
KSMoCA with Open Doors was a family-focused guided tour of KSMoCA created exclusively for the Spanish-speaking community of the school.
Shaped as a reinterpretation of the traditional VIP tours at museum previews and art fairs, with goodie bags and badges for exclusive access to specific rooms. This event proposed an exercise of accessibility and care to welcome Latin American communities, learn about contemporary art, and celebrate the legacy of Dr. MLK Jr. School.
