Frederick’s African Americans of Excellence Student Artist Program, directed by local professional artist and AAOE founder Yemi Fagbohun, expresses the spirit of the overall initiative in that it asks every year: how can we dig deeper and serve our community more?
Observing its fourth year in 2026, Yemi says that his goal this year is for the artwork to go “one step beyond,” with students developing not only creative portraits of each honoree, as they have in the past, but also incorporating important details and foundations of each honoree’s life. For example, a 2026 portrait may also feature an honoree’s local high school, church, favorite pastime or career distinction.
“This year we’re looking to create conceptual portraits,” Yemi says. “We want to see a holistic picture. We want each honoree’s soul to shine through.”
For 2026, the program has grown from nine to twenty students, representing both high school and college-age groups. Yemi says that several of the students who participated last year are participating again, some after departing for colleges as far away as Duke. The rest were hand-selected from local application submissions. Local students come from Frederick High School, Governor Thomas Johnson High School, Saint John’s Regional Catholic School, Hood and FCC.
The AAOE Student Artist Program supplements and supports the AAOE Awards in that it produces portraits and celebrates the achievements of Frederick’s African Americans. Students, though, are drawn from and represent a variety of ethnicities, experiences and backgrounds.
“It was important to me that this program be open to and represent a diversity of people in our community,” Yemi says. “I wanted to connect these student artists with the honorees and allow them to empathize with and imagine the experience of someone they may not have otherwise. I feel that these kinds of connections are where community healing occurs.”
This is part of the program’s holistic approach, which continues through its structure, designed to give student artists opportunities to create meaningful work and gain recognition, as well as expose them to the process of professional contracts.
“One of the first things I learned when I started to gain advertising work as a student artist,” says Yemi, who attended Manhattan’s Pratt Institute, “is that the process and expectations of professional work are very different from creating just for art’s sake. You have to unite your own creativity with the client’s needs. And you have to abide by a timeline for presenting drafts and finished artwork.”
Yemi’s purpose for the AAOE program, part of the vision from its inception, is to furnish this type of experience for each student. While the fundamentals of art and creativity are important, he says, his ultimate hope is to build bridges for these young artists to turn their talents and passion into a viable career.
Accordingly, each of this year’s students will be compensated for the portrait assignment. Sales of the artwork are directed to a nonprofit of the honoree’s choice.
The program begins with an “art bootcamp” in late October, where selected students are supplied with reference materials, such as photos and interviews from the honorees, and Yemi guides them through the process of the work they will be expected to create.
“I give them examples and show them plenty of tips and tricks,” Yemi says.
From there, the artists are turned loose, and they are welcome to work in whatever medium or style is unique to them to produce a portrait of their honoree that is as unique and distinctive as they are. Initial drafts receive feedback before proceeding to the final production stage.
At the Weinberg Center award ceremony, the artists are recognized alongside the honorees, and they have the rewarding experience not only of seeing their work displayed but also of meeting the community members who inspired it.
“It’s a really valuable program because it manages to shine a light on everyone,” Yemi says. “The honorees are celebrated with these beautiful and special portraits, and the artists get community recognition, support and get to be a part of this amazing event.”
An additional avenue for growth that Yemi is attaching to the AAOE Student Artist Program is hiring students to work with him on other local projects. The Ausherman Family Foundation, he says, has funded a series of rotating murals to be displayed on the side of the Candy Kitchen building at 52 N. Market Street, and Yemi is also enlisting student help to execute a mural inside the 7th Street Common Market. Once again, the goal is to help students build professional experience and launching pads for careers in the arts.
“I’ve been lucky enough to trade on my skills and experience in such a way that my work doesn’t feel like work,” Yemi says. “This is what I want for all of these students. I want to show them that their work has value, that it’s important to the fabric of the community, and that it’s something they can build on toward success.”
Yemi hopes to continue building and growing the AAOE Student Artist Program to serve more students each year.
“It’s a really valuable program because it manages to shine a light on everyone.
“We want each honoree’s soul to shine through.”