During the summers of 2014–2018 I taught art for Upward Bound, a college access program. The students I taught were from the South Seattle area, an area known for being amazingly diverse. My students represented a beautiful array of skin tones, cultural heritages, religious beliefs, and personalities. But mostly they were a raucous and sassy group of high school kids who chose to come to school during the summer so that they could get into a good college and take charge of their future. One summer I asked if I could take their pictures and paint their portraits. A variety of them were excited about this prospect. It took me a couple of years to get around to the project, but here we go. 

I painted these with pencil and watercolor on multimedia board. The board is not very absorbent, so the watercolor kind of floats around on it as it dries. I like how I sort of loose control over specific brushstrokes, as the paint itself takes on a life of its own, adding to the liveliness of the portraits.

I’m titling this series Hold Tight. Hold tight to your dreams, students. Hold tight world, these students will make the future so much better.