Empowering Young Artists Through Mentorship

Artist Michael Bernard Stevenson Jr., knows that young people are already shaping the world around them. But with the support of community and mentorship, their potential as artists is limitless.

Now Stevenson (they/them), a candidate for the MFA in Art and Social Practice, is being recognized for their extraordinary work with youth. They’ve just been awarded the Andries Deinum Prize for Visionaries and Provocateurs from the PSU College of the Arts — a donor-supported award that comes with a $10,000 prize. Stevenson will use the funding to expand their ongoing Afro Contemporary Art Class project at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School in Northeast Portland.

Stevenson’s creative work is rooted in the concept of relationships and how people, as community members, can learn from each other and honor each other and themselves. As a social practice artist, they seek opportunities to home in on the actions, rituals and cultural exchanges that may appear to be ordinary, but in fact transcend to create powerful connections and bind communities together. Through their work, they have explored the role of food, matriarchs and grandmothers, neighbors, and community celebrations, among many other topics. They are dedicated to using art and social practice to mentor and develop young people of marginalized groups as an approach to combating

Stevenson’s creative work is rooted in the concept of relationships and how people, as community members, can learn from each other and honor each other and themselves. As a social practice artist, they seek opportunities to home in on the actions, rituals and cultural exchanges that may appear to be ordinary, but in fact transcend to create powerful connections and bind communities together. Through their work, they have explored the role of food, matriarchs and grandmothers, neighbors, and community celebrations, among many other topics. They are dedicated to using art and social practice to mentor and develop young people of marginalized groups as an approach to combating institutionalized racism.

"Art is the medium for engagement, but the goal is to allow human interaction, build relationships and help create opportunities for creativity and self-discovery"

Stevenson launched the Afro Contemporary Art Class in 2020 as an after-school collaborative educational project for students in third through fifth grades. Through hands-on exploration of the work of Afro contemporary artists and leaders, the project enables young students, especially those of African descent, to learn more about the history and context that shapes their lives, culture, and social experience. They guide the students through interactive, immersive projects that provide opportunities for reflection and deeper understanding of the African diaspora. In this process of deep investigation, the students develop self-confidence through learning more about their own creative selves.

“In the Afro Contemporary Art Class, young people are able to reflect on their place and position within the Black Experience,” Stevenson says.

Together with Stevenson, the young students in the class have explored the work of artists Nyame Brown, Emory Douglas and Hank Willis Thomas and others. In studying the art and activism of Emory Douglas, who was the Minister of Culture for the Black Panther Party, the students explored and reenacted the Black Panthers’ Free Breakfast for School Children Program. The students created artwork based on Douglas’s designs as a way of understanding his creative process, and they interviewed former local Black Panther members Kent Ford and Percy Hampton about their experiences as a part of the group.

Stevenson is the fifth recipient of the Andries Deinum Prize for Visionaries and Provocateurs, the largest cash award in the PSU College of the Arts. The prize supports the work of a student who is committed to expanding public dialogue via creative artistic expression, original research or an innovative project highlighting the role and value of art in the 21st century.

The prize is named for the late film educator and PSU professor Andries Deinum, who transformed Portland’s cultural and intellectual landscape through his innovative use of film in education. The prize was established with gifts from devoted former students, colleagues and others inspired by Deinum’s humanist values.