Chop It Up Shop: Elementary Barbershop Academy
Collaborative project by Domenic Toliver and Xavier Pierce, with Barber Tarrence Attkins and support from Self Enhancement, Inc. (SEI)
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School
Portland, Oregon
2025–Present
Chop It Up Shop: Elementary Barbershop Academy is an ongoing community-based art, mentorship, and barbering project that brings the culture, aesthetics, and practices of the barbershop into the elementary school classroom. Working primarily with 3rd–5th grade students, the Shop grew from conversations with community members about the barbershop as a place of mentorship, connection, and community care. The Shop uses barbering as a framework for students to develop practical skills, build relationships, and participate in the life of their community.
Students learn through demonstrations, hands-on practice, conversation, and mentorship. They develop hand-eye coordination, learn to use professional barbering tools, and practice the patience, attention, communication, and gentleness required to work with another person. At it’s core, the Shop is about learning to care for someone else. Students are given knowledge, tools, and guidance, and then trusted to use them. Through practice with one another and eventually with members of their community, they learn what it means to be responsible for someone else’s care. As students take on more responsibility, mentors make room for them to lead, learn, and discover what they are capable of.
Community members are invited into the space to share knowledge and sit in the chair as clients, while visits to Champions Barber Institute introduce students to barbering as a professional trade. Students also photograph the Shop, create designs, and document its activities. Chop It Up Shop allows students to move between learner, barber, artist, documentarian, and community member, creating multiple ways to participate in and shape the project.