Latest / Inside the OSD / S1 E12 - Black History Month Recap Feat. Desere Mayo

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S1 E12 - Black History Month Recap Feat. Desere Mayo · Inside the OSD

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  SPEAKER1: Today on Inside the OSD, we are talking with local resident artist Desere Mayo, who will be discussing her artwork and connections to Black History Month.
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  SPEAKER2: Welcome to this episode of Inside the OSD podcast, where it's all about the kids.
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  Here is your host.
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  Lifelong educator, and our superintendent, Dr.
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  Leslie Bergstrom.
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  SPEAKER1: Desere, could you please introduce yourself to our listeners?
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  All right.
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  SPEAKER3: So my name is Desere Mayo.
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  I am a mother and an artist.
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  I work at the middle school as a paraprofessional.
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  SPEAKER1: Could you please tell us about your journey to becoming an artist?
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  SPEAKER3: So it's a very long journey.
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  Started off very young.
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  I started drawing as a baby.
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  A lot of people don't believe that.
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  But if you ask my mother, she will tell you.
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  My first canvas was her Bible, so she still has it and not -- scribbles all in it.
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  It's so cute to see my first artwork.
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  And then I have a picture of me as a three year old.
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  And then I have a -- I'm drawing and doing coloring books and stuff like that.
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  My mom started to see -- she saw the seed on the inside, started to water it.
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  She would always give me, like sketchbooks, colored pencils, pastels, watercolors, trying to figure out what I liked drawing.
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  And then I you know, I asked her one day, I was like, "Can I -- can I draw on the walls in the bedroom?" And she said, "Sure!" So I would draw
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  characters all over my walls in the room, then repaint them and then draw more.
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  SPEAKER1: Your mom sounds like she was an amazing source of, I don't know, freedom for you to become an artist.
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  Yeah, she was. That's so cool.
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  SPEAKER3: Because she was just -- she just saw something on the inside and then she would just like, "Oh, she liked that.
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  So let her just go." And that's how parents should be.
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  If they see it, they should keep like, let them run with it.
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  And water the seed.
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  Yeah. So then she gave me art classes, My teacher, it was a black lady who used to draw for the Football Hall of Fame.
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  Very amazing.
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  I wanted to start off being working at Disney.
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  That's where I really wanted to do, because I love cartoons.
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  I used to draw Disney characters all the time.
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  Hated the fact that there was never a black princess.
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  And then after that, some -- she had a classmate in there and she was drawing a person with a dog.
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  And I was like, "Oh my gosh, I want to do that." And she told me I couldn't.
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  I wasn't able to do that.
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  I went home and I cried.
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  And my mom said, "You have the ability to do whatever you want.
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  It's okay." And I had a choice to make.
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  Was I going to quit or keep going?
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  And I decided to keep going.
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  And the next year, when I went to McKinley Senior High School, my art teacher, Ms.
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  Gallucci taught me how to draw people, and I've been drawing them ever since.
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  SPEAKER1: And your high school was in Ohio, is that right?
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  SPEAKER3: In Ohio. Mckinley Senior High School.
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  It is literally around the corner from the Football Hall of Fame, the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
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  Oh, all right.
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  SPEAKER1: And you visited there recently, right?
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  Yes. I did. They've been highlighting your art there, too.
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  Yes.
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  SPEAKER3: So at Malone University, I had an art gallery at Malone University, which is like 15 minutes away from where I used to live.
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  I got to go to Hartford Middle School, which has a steam school.
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  Like there was no Mr.
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  Thompson or Mrs.
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  Turner or nothing like that.
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  All of them are "coach" because they said that all kids and adults are teachable.
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  And so everybody is learning from each other.
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  So they're all coached.
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  So it was like, "You are now officially Coach Mayo." I was like, "Oh, I'm a coach and I don't even do sports like that.
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  That's great."
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  SPEAKER1: Well, you're right. There's a lot of ways to coach people, right?
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  Not just with athletics.
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  That's really cool.
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  Yeah. So Black History Month was February, and there were a number of events in our schools to celebrate, such as readings, special projects, projects, art
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  gallery walks.
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  Why is it important to you to celebrate Black History Month?
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  SPEAKER3: Because it just emphasizes what is never seems to be in schools.
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  Like so many people celebrated on one like, you know, February.
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  And then you have so many people that are mad because it's like "It's the shortest month.
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  Why should it be on the shortest month?
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  It should be on the longest month or or whatever." And it's like, I want it to be celebrated on it because one of the people hanging up on the wall is Carter
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  G. Woodson. He is the father of black history because he started it off as Negro Week and it was just a week.
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  And then after that, Kent State University was like, "We should make it a month." And so they made it a month because Abraham Lincoln's birthday is in
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  February. And then Frederick Douglass actually celebrates his birthday, which he never knew.
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  But the day he escaped and was free was February 14th.
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  So it's Freedom Day.
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  So they put it all together.
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  And so to be able to celebrate everyone, I think that's very important to me.
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  But also I'm different because I want to celebrate those who had the -- the Underground Railroad, those who supported us, who marched with
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  Martin Luther King, those who don't look like us, but wants to be there to celebrate with us.
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  I also want to celebrate them.
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  But I feel like Black History Month should be every month, Asian month should be every month, Hispanic heritage should be every month.
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  We should be able to celebrate everyone all at one time.
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  We should be
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  SPEAKER1: able to celebrate all of the people who contributed to to our history and to our present.
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  Yes. To who we are today.
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  Yes. So you've been involved in many of the Black History Month activities, particularly as it relates to the art gallery.
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  So can you talk with us about your inspiration for the art gallery display?
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  SPEAKER3: So it's called Black History Month: Resist, Create and Inspire.
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  And I wanted people to see different people who have done different things.
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  Some people have resisted not getting up on a bus or fought like Jessie -- Jackie Robinson, who fought not to fight back.
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  So many -- You got William Thompson, who was the the first one to get the Medal of Honor, which his sergeant, when they had an ambush in Korea,
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  told everybody to retreat.
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  And he said, no, you guys all retreated.
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  And he resisted the temptation to leave.
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  But he fought for people around him so that they could get safe.
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  And he ended up losing his life.
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  But he still resisted and resisting from Ida B Wells as an investigative journalist, she was just -- "I'm going to talk about what I see that's
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  wrong and we have to stop hiding from it." Like, oh, it's just it's a bad thing.
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  We shouldn't talk. No, let's bring it up to the forefront so we can fix it.
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  And so then we have create those so much different music come out of it.
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  The different artworks, sculptures.
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  It's just people created businesses, created like, so many different things they've created, but they also inspire you to keep going forward.
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  Because if we don't inspire our next generation, it's never going to have anybody to look towards.
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  SPEAKER1: So from resistance, we get inspiration and from our inspiration we create.
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  And that is, I guess, what's behind some of the beautiful creations you have in the art gallery today?
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  SPEAKER4: Definitely.
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  SPEAKER1: So do you have a favorite piece?
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  And if you do, tell me about it.
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  SPEAKER3: My favorite piece is not even in here, like -- but one of like, I just put up the MATC pieces that was at Madison Technical College Area Technical
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  College. So they're here, but they're amazing because so many people was like, "when are you going to draw yourself?" And I do not like drawing myself at all.
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  So I created myself as a silhouette.
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  And then I put the people in the -- in the hair, which is shaped as Africa, and then the hair wrap, which who inspired me, who helped
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  me create and who showed me that I can keep going and beautiful.
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  Thank you. Like just and I brought color to it because I know people are like, "You never draw in color." Like, "No, black and white is so much better.
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  It's so much elegant to me." Yeah, but those are my favorite pieces in here.
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  But also a Bill Russell.
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  Just all of the things he's done for just the NBA.
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  And then he fought for so many as a civil rights activist and changing rules in the NBA.
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  But his Jersey detail is just epic.
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  It's just I mean, his shorts, it just looks so real.
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  SPEAKER1: It does. All of your drawings look very, very realistic.
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  Thank you. So you did a number of gallery tours with students and classes during Black History Month.
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  How did those work and what do you think our students took away from the experience?
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  SPEAKER3: So I got to -- they would come in and I'll tell them about myself just a little bit, and then I would show them the different people and I would talk about each
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  person and I would say, "This is so-and-so and this is what they did." And they loved it because they they kept saying, like, "I didn't even know this person or
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  I've never heard of them," but it was them learning somebody new and a lot of them learning about people that doesn't look like them.
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  So it was always fun for me to be able to do that.
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  I would love to do that every day, if I could.
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  Like that could be just my job.
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  Just to be able to teach about people who people don't know because I just bringing those treasures and those gems that has been kept secret and bringing
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  them into the forefront.
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  So people are now able to look at them and kids are just like, "Can she do this again?
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  And she's going to do this again, right?
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  Like she's doing this next year." And I'm like, "I just want to do it every month."
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  SPEAKER1: Well, I think that's that's the longer term goal, right?
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  Is to be able to use art to highlight.
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  Yes. Many different contributors to American society.
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  It's a beautiful goal.
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  And that leads into my my last question for you.
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  What's next?
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  And then where do all of these beautiful art pieces that have been exhibited the last couple of years, where do they go?
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  SPEAKER4: So we have --
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  SPEAKER3: What's next for me is a sabbatical.
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  I need a break.
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  Like it's been so long.
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  I've been doing so much that I'm not getting sleep.
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  And then I wake up and I'm like, "Oh, I got to do something else" or I have so much stuff on my mind and I just need to have a day of just rest.
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  Like, just relax and.
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  But April comes, I'm going to be on fire and ready to just keep it going.
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  Like I'm just ready, just giving March my break.
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  And then a lot of these pieces, two of the big pieces that are here, they go into the library at the high school.
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  Some of the other pieces are going to the library in the school.
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  But a lot of them, they end up going in a box because I don't know what to do with them.
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  So I'm thinking about the words "create, inspire and resist." I want to laminate them and put them together to have just if somebody wanted to
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  have them as a display, I can do that.
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  But I'm trying to find people like if you want one, please let me know because I don't want to take them home.
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  SPEAKER1: I can only imagine that your home is filled with your beautiful artwork.
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  SPEAKER3: It's everywhere. There is no photo on my wall.
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  They're all drawn.
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  Really? So I decided that if I want to put a picture of my kids up, I have to draw it.
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  So they're all on the walls and they're just like, it's almost it's so funny because people come over like, "This is like your art gallery." I was like,
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  "Yeah, it is.
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  And then don't look in the art room, though.
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  It's a mess." Like, it's just creation.
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  That's like, looks like a tornado hit it.
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  SPEAKER4: That's great. That's part of the creative process.
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  SPEAKER3: You could never find anything, but you know where everything is.
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  That's the best part. As long as I know where it is, I can always find it.
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  SPEAKER1: And our libraries across the school district feature your art, too.
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  Yes, we have some rotating displays that help highlight to students different different contributors to to America.
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  SPEAKER4: Yes.
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  SPEAKER3: And then putting them on buttons so people can wear them and learn as well.
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  They have been in multiple schools.
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  They're trying to get more in Madison schools.
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  We got -- Stoughton got artwork or they're actually wanting artwork because she was jealous.
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  She saw a picture of other schools having it and she was like, "Oh, they got artwork.
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  I want artwork too."
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  SPEAKER4: So it's exciting.
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  SPEAKER1: It is exciting.
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  It's exciting that students are experiencing all of this and feeling connected to it, and it's informing their view
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  of our society and all of the different people who have contributed all the perspectives that are a part of the American experience.
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  SPEAKER3: Yes. So they get to see something that and inspired by and then they become the person that I get to draw next because
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  SPEAKER4: they inspire me.
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  SPEAKER1: Exactly! How many students in the future will be on the walls someday because they become the source of inspiration?
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  SPEAKER4: So it's a circle.
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  SPEAKER3: I get to inspire them and then I get to draw them because they inspire me.
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  SPEAKER1: And that is the beautiful thought we will close on.
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  Yes. Thank you so much for spending some time with us today.
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  As you said, you're pretty busy.
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  Yeah, always. So we really appreciate that you're helping us learn more about this important topic.
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  SPEAKER3: Yes, I love it.
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  SPEAKER1: Remember that you can find links to all episodes of Inside the OSD and submit topic ideas on our website at
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  OregonSD.org/podcast. You can find this podcast anywhere you can find podcasts.
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  Make sure to subscribe if you're listening on one of these apps to get notifications on the most recent episodes.
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  We'll see you next time on Inside the OSD, where it's all about the kids.