Already, she seems skilled at helping others in the program, applying gluey plaster strips to another girl's face with precision as they construct a mask.
"You doing okay?" she asks Zoe Wohiren, 12, who is fidgeting under the weight and clammy feel of the plaster. "Can you still breathe?"
At the end of each Space of Her Own (SOHO) class, participants gather in a circle to discuss what they liked about that night's class and to learn everyone's name. The program is for at-risk girls ages 12 to 14.
(Photos Len Spoden For The Washington Post)
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Cassandra Chess, a health educator from Prince George's County, has been selected to act as Stephanie's mentor. They know each other from a program called "Youth Power" that Chess ran out of an Alexandria community center.
Stephanie "is very sweet," Chess said. "She just needs that extra push."
That's where the educators and mentors come in. Like Prince, the teachers are current or former instructors at the Art League.
The concepts of community and collaboration are woven into the fabric of Prince's art, just one reason he was selected to participate in the program, teaching six of the 16 classes. This is his third year working with the group. During each lesson, he instructs the girls about new art techniques, sharing some of his work along the way.
Last week, Prince showed the girls how to make masks, dissolving cotton lentil into a bucket of water and then straining the wet pulp between pieces of window screen. The pulp was then pressed into their plaster masks, which will eventually be decorated.
"Sometimes I'm asked, 'Will you draw this for me?' " Prince tells the girls. "The answer is no. I will guide you. I will help you, but I will not do."
The girls seem to understand.
"This program isn't just about caring for yourself; it's about caring for others," Prince says. "I want them to know I care about them. I have a genuine love for them and want to see them succeed at what they do. . . .
"They need to know you can be creative despite whatever situation is in front of you."
