Creator and innovator Kayin Talton Davis’s work centers around her passion for fusing art grounded in Black heritage and culture with graphic design, mechanical engineering, community building and education. Known for her vibrant color palettes and unique aesthetic, Talton Davis founded Soapbox Theory™ in 2001, with the mission of “Cultivating Black Joy™.”

Kayin is a current City of Portland Archives Artist in Residence, and co-artist of the Historic Black Williams Art Project and the Alberta Street Black Heritage Markers. Her most recent permanent public installation, “We’ve Been Here” – highlighting Oregon Black women in the early 1900s, is located in the Portland Building.

Davis is partnering with Visiting Faculty Fellow Cleo Davis and Belluschi Distinguished Visiting Professor and continuing Design for Spatial Justice Fellow Craig L. Wilkins on a terminal studio course sequence that buildings on the (re)BUILDINGCORNERSTONES work. The studio partners with residents of the historic Black and African American neighborhood of Albina in Portland to understand, analyze, and propose designs that creatively address decades-long, systemic obstacles.