TBA:20
Artist Michael Bernard Stevenson Jr.
Grandmother(s)’s Kitchen Presents: Bring Your Own Blanket Free Community Picnic and Discussion
Featuring Kee’s Loaded Kitchen, Plant Based
Papi, you, and your neighbors
NEW DATE!
SEPTEMBER 29 | 5:00-7:00 PM PDT
Location: Irving Park | Enter from NE 11th and Klickitat, between Fremont and Siskiyou
Masks/face coverings will be required and physical distancing will be practiced.
DESCRIPTION
Grandmother(s)’s Kitchen Presents: Bring Your Own Blanket Free Community Picnic and Discussion is inspired by Artist Michael Bernard Stevenson Jr. (AMBSJ)’s practice, oriented toward food and gathering around it. Further inspired by AMBSJ’s Grandmothers who would convene large groups of friends and family over holidays and celebratory life events, Grandmother(s)’s Kitchen will create a similarly rich congregation around food for Portland.
The project is designed to cultivate a safe and physically distanced event that will also set the stage for participants to enjoy the company of friends and family while in a space with new friends and neighbors doing the same. The structure of the gathering will allow folks to meet new people by using a measuring stick to place guests of the event exactly 6ft from each other. Participants are encouraged to exchange words with each other about how they're doing, to share experiences and stories about their lives, as well as engage in dialogue about the state of our city, nation, and world.
The goal is that this space will offer community members a collective respite from the solitude of quarantine by encouraging them to spend time with people they don’t already know, while at the same time providing a platform for folks to reflect on some of the unsettling things happening in our local community and beyond. The hope is that by nourishing the body and the mind, Grandmother(s)’s Kitchen will inspire participants to organize around building a better and brighter future.
Additionally, the project will feature, support, and make available food from Kee’s Loaded Kitchen and Plant Based Papi, two Portland-based Black businesses and food vendors. The event is being supported by various friends and community organizations.
ARTIST BIO
Artist Michael Bernard Stevenson Jr. is Black, non-binary, and practices primarily in America. Their collaborative approach results in artwork by and for the people.
Stevenson’s practice has been dedicated to supporting young people ages 4 to 15 in developing the necessary skills to encourage advanced imaginative thinking and self-confident expression. They have spent the last year developing the Afro Contemporary Art Class at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School. Stevenson also has a robust portfolio of artist projects centering food and gathering around it, and new work in collaboration with currently and formerly incarcerated folks such as Gallery Blue and Tin Can Phone, a forthcoming radio show on KBOO Community Radio. They pursue these professional and creative goals passionately because they believe that empowered and open-minded young people are the best and most direct way toward ensuring a sustainable and prosperous future for all.