‘Art with Duarte’ to impact BLHS students this year 

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Resident artist Richard Duarte Brown, pictured at the right, works on alongside Benjamin Logan High School art students. (BENJAMIN LOGAN PHOTO)

The Benjamin Logan High School Art Department is welcoming resident artist Richard Duarte Brown — a 2022 Governor’s Award for the Arts winner — this school year through a residency is made possible by the Ohio Arts Council’s TeachArtsOhio grant.

Art teacher Jennifer Davis was awarded a TeachArtsOhio grant for $12,600 from the Ohio Arts Council to support her work with Brown for the 2023-24 academic year.

Exciting opportunities are ahead for Mrs. Davis and the BLHS students as she seeks to integrate unique arts learning experiences into her students’ learning, which continues to be more important than ever, she said.

“Duarte will be with us during normal school hours every Tuesday during the 23-24 school year. Our school is going to be greatly blessed by Duarte and the residency this year,” Mrs. Davis said. “My art students will be forever impacted.”

As part of the Ohio Arts Council’s TeachArtsOhio grant, Duarte and a collaborative team of Benjamin Logan educators (art, music, vo-ag) will also conduct a professional development workshop with BLHS staff during the month of February.

The team expressed appreciation to Governor Mike DeWine, Lt. Governor Jon Husted and members of the Ohio General Assembly for acknowledging the importance of public funding for the arts through the state budget.

This video gives a glimpse of who Duarte is and the impact our community can anticipate this year. (The video was featured when he received the Governor’s Award for the Arts).
Mrs. Davis first worked with Duarte and Donte, the young man that shares in the video, about 10 years ago when they came to Benjamin Logan Middle School for a collaborative project.