Renaissance Academy High School student Gregory Rochester is, in many ways, an average 17-year-old. He scarfs down pizza, enjoys the warmth of summer and has his eyes set on college. But being a young black man from Baltimore means he's had to endure painful stereotypes.

“People might look at me and think I sell drugs,” he wrote when asked about stereotypes at school. “[They] probably think I'm a failure.”

But in “Breaking Frames,” an art show and benefit launched by Renaissance Academy art teacher Kristen Yoder and San Francisco tattoo artist Deanna Wardin, Gregory is a work of art.

The 31-year-old organizersinvited Renaissance Academy students to write about their experiences living in Baltimore and asked more than 50 artists from around the country to transform the students' words into visual art.

The product: 57 works to be displayed and auctioned at the show's opening Saturday at the Eubie Blake National Jazz and Cultural Center, alongside photos of and written excerpts from each student. Proceeds from the auction will directly benefit students, who will help decide how the money is to be used, Yoder said.

The show, which will remain on display through December, comes after a period of violence at the school that started last November. Three students were killed just weeks apart, leaving the community reeling. Yoder discussed the events with her students, but she and Wardin wondered if there might be a way to further empower the students, she said.

“A lot [of] people will talk about the students or about the young people in Baltimore, rather than talking with them about the things they are experiencing,” said Yoder. “I can't teach these kids about racism because that's their lived experience. I can't teach them about stereotypes. They know it to their core. But our goal is to give them a forum in which to educate other people and to be a participant in the discussion.”

Yoder asked students about their lives — their favorite colors, foods and hobbies, what they wanted to be when they grew up — and about their neighborhoods, while Warden organized a website for the project and held an online open call for artists. To each approved artist, they sent a photograph of a student along with the student's written entry.

Gregory, who lives in East Baltimore, wrote about the danger in his neighborhood.

He was attacked one day because of the new sneakers he was wearing on his way to school, he said. A knife grazed his chest before he could run away. He still has the scar.

Maceo Cooper, 34, an artist and instructional coach at Frederick Douglass High School, spent a month transforming Gregory's words into a complex and colorful acrylic painting, portraying a smiling Gregory in a hoodie with a golden mirror framing his face.

He painted caution tape behind him and the word “king” in deep red — signifying the value of black men, yet the loss of life.

Cooper's goal was to illustrate what Gregory wrote about his goals, his struggles and the stereotypes he faced, the artist said.

“I remember feeling that way at his age, just being a black man, period.”

Fifteen-year-old Ikera White wrote about the trash that littered her neighborhood, the fights that kept her from wanting to go outside, and her favorite things: penguins and the color purple.

Artist Cassidy Francik, 25, saw promise.

She met with Ikera during Yoder's art class to learn more and noticed how Ikera juxtaposed dreams with reality in her art.

“She liked to give human features to animals or personify animals. I wanted to capture her portrait, but also do as she would and try to personify that in an animal,” said Francik, who incorporated the themes into her work using a window frame.

Francik painted a purple penguin on one window pane; on the other, a black-and-white portrait of Ikera, left unfinished.

“She's got a lot left to live, so while it's a portrait at one point in her time, it will only blossom into something else later on,” Francik said.

Ikera was nervous about participating in the project, she said, but after seeing the art and meeting the artist, “it means a lot,” she said.

“I like what we're doing now because I never did none of this when I was younger. Me doing it now, it really teaches a lot,that you can do a lot in life.”

The response to the project has been positive, Yoder said. A preview opening, held at Zella's Pizzeria on Oct. 5, was “shoulder-to-shoulder,” Yoder said.

Nine of the 14 displayed pieces were sold, but there are still more than 40 stories to tell, more artwork for viewers (and prospective buyers) to see.

“I'm hoping they like it,” Gregory said. “I'm hoping they feel my energy that I'm giving them, the things I say. I hope they feel it when they see the painting.”

bbritto@baltsun.com

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