Students team up for East End Arts’ MLK Portrait Project

Students from across the East End collaborated for East End Arts’ MLK Portrait Project in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Four different portraits, each containing 16 panels, were created as a unique images of Dr. King. The project was inspired by the work of East End Arts teacher Kenneth Jackson.

The project is “a way to celebrate the words of MLK by working together in unity, each creating an individual part, that ultimately becomes whole. Each panel style is different, yet they all fit together.”

The portraits were created on individual 12-inch-by-12-inch panels “with mostly acrylic as a mosaic of images.”

Each participating student was given a panel or two of the mosaic portrait to create their individual canvas. Most of the completed portraits were a combination of two high schools. A total of nine schools participated in the project, including Riverhead, Greenport and Shelter Island.

The portraits will hang in each high school for one week. When the program ends, the portraits will be auctioned off to support EEA’s scholarship fund for art students in need.

Students from Riverhead who participated were: Alexandra Hoverkamp, Megan McKay, Emma Eager, Karla Hernandez Garcia and Nickoya Patterson.

Some of the schools artwork has been delayed due to closing caused by COVID-19, according to East End Arts.

Anyone interested in bidding on a portrait, which are 4 feet by 4 feet, can contact Monique Parsons at [email protected].