Learning through Care at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School Museum of Contemporary Art

By Mikile Baker

Walker Publishing Filed to Learning · Part of Creative Care

Courtesy of The Dr Martin Luther King Jr School Museum of Contemporary Art (KSMoCA)

The process of learning often gets oversimplified. We can sum up learning as acquiring and retaining knowledge, exercises, and behaviors. In optimal learning settings, educators prioritize creating an environment where learners can feel at ease. To create that ease, learners must feel safe, comfortable, and recognized in ways that feel respectful to them. To do this, educators should encourage listening, model generosity, and strive to understand and respond to learners’ familial, cultural, and environmental needs. With this expanded approach, the arts of teaching and learning are not simply the mere retention of information but also the caring recognition of one’s humanity and daily needs. Many educational institutions are adopting this approach to building learning environments that holistically center learners.

In Portland, Oregon, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School Museum of Contemporary Art (KSMoCA) is adapting the resources and processes of a contemporary art museum as a model for participatory, responsive learning. Founded in 2014 by Portland State University professors Lisa Jarrett and Harrell Fletcher, the public school serves pre-K to 5th-grade BIPOC learners in Northeast Portland. KSMoCA introduces students to renowned contemporary artists and their practices while funneling learning through collaborative workshops and projects that result in student-produced exhibitions and site-specific installations. Students participate in museum work, careers, and community functions in each grade.

At KSMoCA, students pick up the varied skill sets used by curators; they learn to research topics, manage projects, use graphic design, and practice problem-solving and collaboration. Educators engage learners via their interests and take on the task of learning complex skills. KSMoCA aims to help young people develop critical thinking and creative inquiry using art and curatorial processes. Creating or showing art is not the end goal but rather a means to an end.

In 2019, architect Akasha Lawrence-Spence, founder and principal designer at Fifth Element, an urban development company in Portland, collaborated with KSMoCA students. Lawrence-Spence asked the students to reimagine Portland while considering the decision-making power structures behind urban planning and architecture. She asked the students: “Who gets to decide?” The project was an exercise in accessibility and inclusivity. The students articulated changes they would like to see in their city—deciding what could stay, what could go, and what would directly benefit their communities. In doing so, they launched an inquiry process into their community’s needs, architectural history, and accessibility.

For the students, the content’s impact is at the core of KSMoCA’s mission to reimagine how museums, art, and academic institutions can affect people and culture. Relationships are essential to KSMoCA’s mission. With the knowledge that relationships are not instantaneous but require care, consistency, and intent, the school leans on the continuity of students’ pre-K to 5th-grade enrollment. Teachers and students build strong relationships as they commune over the years.

Each year, students at KSMoCA are partnered with mentors attending Portland State University. Mentors accompany students one-on-one as they explore the galleries, prepare for exhibitions, and support independent research projects. By having university students serve as mentors, the KSMoCA learners understand what college life is like demystifying the higher education experience and making it seem more attainable. Harrell Fletcher described the origin of the mentorship at KSMoCA as:

"At the schools in Oregon, there is a program called Smart Reading, [where] volunteers from the community can support learners by engaging in one-on-one reading sessions. KSMoCA observed the Smart program model and saw the beneficial takeaways. Students were reading more, their proficiency was increasing, and they also enjoyed the one-on-one engagement. KSMoCA would go on to do something similar but with art. Portland, Oregon, has a lot of artists, and KSMoCA wanted to start to equip learners with art language and skills. The mentors introduced a broader approach to looking at and consuming art. Students could engage in conversations about art and museum practices with mentors.”

Fletcher went on to share his own experience mentoring a student who wanted to see a more diverse, and specifically Black, representation of identities in contemporary art. Consequently, Fletcher and the student intensively researched Black contemporary artists. This research resulted in a list of Black artists to which the student could easily refer when asked. Mentorships like this one allowed for learning tailored directly to the individual student’s interests.

In addition to the mentorship, KSMoCA staff use a unique curriculum that illuminates the art world and actively creates career pathways for students with identities that are underrepresented in the museum field. KSMoCA co-founder Lisa Jarrett explains that representation is also a form of care:

“There is a lasting impact that is created when teachers serve students who look like them. Those teachers are planting the seeds that will blossom into the next generation of artists, curators, teachers, and thinkers. It is a legacy that is being created through care and relationships.”

Representation looks different in the professional world. With that in mind, KSMoCA collaborates with mostly professional artists of color so that students can see artists who look like them thriving in their careers.

KSMoCA’s impactful approach leads to impressive outcomes. In the spring of 2023, a 5th-grade student, along with Kiara Hill, a Portland State University professor, curated an exhibition titled Welcome to My Happy Place (2023). The show featured a selection of works from KSMoCA students. In an interview with Portland’s KPTV News (Watkins 2023), Hill said:

“The possibilities that open up when you are able to see yourself, see your perspective, see your desires reflected through art in a space that you can call your own—which is essentially their school—what I want people to take away from this is that there is a lot of love and care that goes into this program.”▪︎

Learn more about the full range of programs, exhibitions, projects, print shop, and more at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School Museum of Contemporary Art (KSMoCA) here.