Impacting over 150 students across 13 schools every year, the Mentorship Program exists to transform students’ lives through art and prepare them for a dynamic academic and professional future.

Please join us to celebrate the year-long efforts of our Mentorship students! The opening reception will be held on Thursday, March 9th from 5:00 to 8:00 pm. with live music by Issei Aoyama.

This competitive exhibition provides extraordinary exposure to high school and middle school students while connecting them to a larger art community. Selected students from the program showcase relief prints and screen prints created throughout the year. During our Mentorship program, the students are expected to analyze their work through peer critiques and conversations with artist mentors. Throughout the program, our Mentorship students work with locally and nationally acclaimed artists in the art community as they expand their knowledge about artistic processes.

Thanks to our incredible sponsors, the Mentorship Program remains entirely free to the students and schools that participate.

About Issei Aoyama:

"Born in Nagasaki, Japan, Issei Aoyama grew up in Fukuoka, Japan. At 16, Issei left for Toronto, Canada and a year later moved to the United States. After receiving a bachelor’s degree from the University of Alabama, he moved to Oklahoma City.

Issei's talent and passion for music started, in part, with his family. His father played drums, his mother played traditional Japanese instruments (the koto and shami-sen) and his sister played piano. Issei was exposed to a wide variety of music at an early age and developed a love for jazz music due to his father's love of jazz. At the age of 5, Issei began playing piano and when he was 13, switched to guitar. At age of 20, he started focusing on jazz and studied by listening to countless jazz records. He performs as a soloist as well as with combos and larger groups in a variety of venues throughout Oklahoma."