Hey! My name is Justin Williams and I am a figurative draftsmen,  photographer, and social justice advocate. You may be wondering how any of those three things coincide, but trust me they all do and will be further discussed. I remember the beginning of this journey of a road I am now walking down, with my brain open to play and my arms open to new experiences. It was my junior year of high school, and education was not on the top of my  list of “ important things” to do. Back then, education was just something to do when I woke up in the morning and another way to make friends and meet girls. Anyhow, one day which followed many similar days of terrorizing my teachers with atrocious behavior- I met an art teacher. But something was different about this one. He was black, and had dreads. My attention was utterly captured. I noticed that his eyes lit up whenever he would begin talking about KAWS, Banksy, and Jean Mitchel Basquiat. I also noticed that all three of these artist had one thing in common besides the fact that they were all artist ( if you're not a politician). They were all rich! This completely blew my adolescent mind. "There's actually an alternative means to acquiring a comfortable lifestyle that promotes creativity" I ignoratnly thought. In other less “important” classes, my thoughts would wonder miles and miles away but I always ended up in the same place in the end. I was stuck on the idea of a teachers eyes ferociously lighting up when presenting information about rich men that were doing the exact same thing he was doing. There was no envy, only passion in his words. In turn, he inspired me to put my behavior and its reasoning behind and pursue art, the one language where my voice was heard not only by my teachers and peers, but also myself.

 

As an individual who suffers from severe depression it is easy for ones voice to be superimposed by negativity. But art was the light. Art is the Light. Senior year f high school is where Justin was put into the AP art program at his high school and also awarded most artistic student along with best in show at his senior show. He went on to Pursue a degree in studio art at Delaware State University, but something was missing. Yes art and design make the world aesthetically pleasing, and more an efficient place to thrive. But was what is their impact on lives who didn't have the means to acquire them? This question drove Justin to add an additional Social Work major to his scholarly endeavors and declared a concentration in inner city youth with post traumatic stress disorder. Art therapy was the intervention tool of choice in order to combat the same systemic schools that irresponsibly passed Justin along for years. Taino Studios was born. A community based art shop which aims to promote practical art and design skills, emotional intelligence, and therapy for those that may be unable to speak about sensitive topics such as traumatic events. Sometimes youth are not even linguistically capable of conveying complex emotions such jealousy, pride, remorse, and shame, due to economic disadvantage, complex family environments, and a faulty school system.

 

In order to get first hand knowledge of the problem at hand, the problem needs to be understood from a first hand perspective. In 2016, Justin started his art teaching career at a local Goddard school where he learned the fundamentals of efficiently running a classroom without neglecting creativity and individuality. The following summer, he developed his own curriculum and taught for enrichment programs across Baltimore city. One that particularly stood out was “ The Bell School.” This program allowed Justin to freely convey practical knowledge and concepts that reshaped the way student would see their environment not as a place to be stuck but as unshaped land with potential. But potential would stay dormant without relentless effort. African American Drawing led to a collaboration between Justin and students to perform a small demonstration which entailed sign making and a mock protest conveying students attitudes toward situation they wished to be separated from and were wiling to work toward.