Published Date: May 7, 2020
This year's winners have been announced in the Taft Museum of Art's Artists Reaching Classrooms program (ARC), which immerses high school art students in Cincinnati's visual arts community and exposes them to careers in the arts. Professional artists visit classrooms to talk with the students about a career in art including opportunities to visit an artist’s studio.
As part of the program students are asked to make artworks in response to their ARC experience and write artists' statements demonstrating what they have learned, culminating in a professionally organized exhibition of selected students’ artwork. All the artwork is juried.
The Dater Foundation is a long-time supporter of the Taft’s Education Program and many activities that take place in the Taft's Dater Education Room.
This year's winners are listed below. Click on this link to see all the entries on the Taft Museum Facebook page:
First: Leah Mizukawa, Anderson High School (Grade 11), Many Blessings
Second: Amber Reveal, Kings High School (Grade 12), Reveal Magazine
Third: Brendon Lowry, Winton Woods High School (Grade 12), A Blown Mind
Artist Statement: Alyssa Jackson, Dater High School (Grade 10),Dear Mom
School Winners:
Anderson High School: Natalie Scott, Old Five Mile
Cincinnati Country Day School: Maggie Ma, The Reflection of Yin and Yang
Dater High School: Nolan Lively, A View of our Future
Hamilton High School: Niah Keister, A New Direction
Hughes STEM High School: Kaliyah Kendricks, My Aura of Happiness
Kings High School (Kings Mills, Ohio): Lydia Ball, Timeworn
Milford High School (Ohio): School: Jenna Taylor, All Legends Seem to Die Young
Princeton High School (Sharonville, Ohio): Elena Monin, Greenery
Walnut Hills High School: Lai Connelly, Take Cha
Western Hills High School (Cincinnati, Ohio): Melody Huffman, Untitled
Winton Woods High School: Yasiah Roberts, Futuro Al Limite
Woodward Career Technical High School: Amani Graves, Eyes Diptych
Below … Leah Mizukawa, a Junior at Anderson High School, won first place in this year's Artists Reaching Classrooms competition (Grade 11). His acrylic painting is entitled Many Blessings. Here is his statement about the work: I painted a blessing for my home. The images were chosen deliberately, reminiscent of symbols used Chinese ceramics, to imbue patience, kindness, and cheerfulness. I am blessed to have a home that is a refuge and sanctuary for me. This painting is a way for me to give back to the home that given me everything and a reminder of the environment I continuously strive to create. In essence, “Many Blessings” creates a hopeful mindset.
