Express Yourself mentor, Nic Bennett, has been hard at work completing his large scale exhibition funded by an Amplify Grant from the Mass Cultural Council.

Nic is an Express Yourself participant of 16 years and a long-time youth mentor –  the longest running participant in Express Yourself history. He is leading youth and junior mentors in creating two large panels inspired by the theme SOUL to be displayed outside Express Yourself’s studio. Using quilting patterns and a specific color palette, Nic designed a modular project to be individually painted by youth and then assembled into the final piece.

His project fosters youth leadership within the studio setting and brings public art to the Cummings Center in Beverly, MA. The exhibition will be presented during a studio reception and will be on full display in the Cummings Center after the show at the Boch Center Wang Theater on May 25.

This article originally appeared on Express Yourself’s site.