I did a residency at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School through KSMoCA in Portland, OR from spring 2022 — 2024. In spring 2023, I spent a few days there each week for about a month. In 2022 and 2023, the time concluded with opportunities to show my work publicly alongside other socially engaged artists at the school.

That spring, I was curious about the stories that elementary school students write in their journals. I facilitated a workshop with third grade students around their early childhood memories and their favorite stories from that time. I asked a class full of students, and several shared exciting, hilarious, and sometimes sad stories.

One of the third grade students who shared a story was Ursula Salmon. She told a story of a rainbow chicken. I asked her what she would like it to be made of and she said Jenga blocks, then she thought about it and said she would write the lines of the story on the blocks. I was struck by the idea, to write out a story on stacked blocks that could tumble and rearrange themselves at any time. I asked Ursula if she wanted any actual chickens in the sculpture, and she told me that she wanted to collage a picture of the chicken from her mom’s old magazines. She also told me that her favorite film was Puss and Boots.

That week, I contacted my friend Januel Mercado, co-director of the film Puss and Boots: The Last Wish, and shared Ursula’s story with him. A week later, I received a drawing in the mail by Januel of the rainbow chicken. I showed Ursula the drawing during our first collaging session. We had several visits together and made the collage and the Jenga pieces too.

We installed the sculpture in a spot that Ursula selected, outside the music room. At the presentation of my piece for Assembly, Stem Song, we also had an unveiling of Ursula’s Rainbow Chicken.

Thanks to Alexis Johnson and Januel Mercado