Give Our City a Hug was born as a result of the Baltimore Uprising in Spring 2015. I made artwork to help me process my emotions.

The artwork - a simple cardboard collograph - developed into a coloring page used to help our youngest students at our school process their emotions about the current events.

The coloring page turned into a t-shirt,

which turned into a first grade community art investigation with Baltimore artist Michael Owen,

which turned into a wheatpaste mural,

which turned into multiple conference presentations,

which is a part of our school uniform and school culture,

which was exhibited at Maryland Institute College of Art’s Decker Library,

where students colored the image to help process their emotions nearly seven years later.

The future of Give Our City a Hug is unknown, but positively colorful.