PHA pre-K student Theodore, from Somerville, watches the Black is a Rainbow Color workshop with artist Ekua Holmes.

In celebration of Black History Month, renowned artist and award-winning children’s book illustrator Ekua Holmes hosted over 30 Prospect Hill Academy Charter School (PHA) families for an interactive virtual workshop on Thursday, February 10.

Prospect Hill Academy is a PK-12 charter public school with campuses in Cambridge and Somerville. The school serves over 1,000 students from diverse backgrounds, with over 57% of students identifying as Black. With a robust slate of celebrations planned throughout February to celebrate Black culture and excellence, the workshop with Ekua Holmes was designed to bring families together through an interactive experience that encourages dialogue about racial identity.

PHA Kindergartner Xavier, with his mother Tori, from Revere, pose with the artwork they created during the Black is a Rainbow Color workshop with artist Ekua Holmes.

Ms. Holmes shared impressions of her joyful upbringing in Boston as well as images that inspired her to become an artist. She explained to the young audience her process of collecting all sorts of paper that she utilizes in her beautifully colorful collages and talked about incorporating images from her daily life into her paintings and illustrations, including those that were recently exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

After Ms. Holmes and PHA Head of School Dr. Angela Allen read aloud Ekua Holmes and Angela Joy’s book Black is a Rainbow Color, Ms. Homes lead the participating children aged 4 to 10 through an artmaking workshop.

With materials provided by PHA, the children created an amazing array of collages and drawings that they happily shared on screen. Ms. Homes hopes that the experience will encourage the children to continue to create meaningful art and maybe even become artists themselves.

The workshop was generously sponsored by First Republic allowing each participating child to receive a copy of Black is a Rainbow Color.