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Continuing the Legacy of Artist Robert S. Duncanson
The Duncanson Artist-in-Residence Program was established in 1986 to honor the achievements of contemporary Black American artists working in a breadth of artistic disciplines. The program honors the relationship between painter Robert S. Duncanson and Cincinnati art patron, Nicholas Longworth, who commissioned Duncanson to paint landscape murals in the foyer of his home, now the Taft Museum of Art. The Taft Museum of Art’s Robert S. Duncanson Society annually recognizes the achievements of a contemporary Black American artist through the Duncanson Artist-in-Residence program.
The Duncanson Society
The Robert S. Duncanson Society was founded in 1986 by the late Doris Rankin Sells, the late William Joel McCray, and Ruth K. Meyer to affirm an ongoing Black presence within the structure of the Taft Museum of Art, including the Duncanson Artist-in-Residence program, and to celebrate Robert S. Duncanson’s artistic contributions.
Past Duncanson Artists-in-Residence
2022 | Ajanae Dawkins: writer, performer, educator
2021 | Asha Ama Bias-Daniels: fashion designer
2019 | Ya'Ke Smith: filmmaker
2018 | Vanessa German: visual and performance artist
2017 | Stafford C. Berry Jr.: choreographer, dancer
2016 | Carla Cook: jazz vocalist
2015 | Alysia Nicole Harris, poet
2014 | Laci Coppins: photographer
2013 | Diane Macklin: storyteller
2012 | Nikkole Salter: actor/playwright
2011 | Adrienne Danrich: soprano; John Blake Jr.: jazz violinist; Tracy Walker: singer-songwriter
2010 | Nokuthula Ngwenyama: violist
2009 | Brian Joiner: painter
2008 | Sandra Cardoso Muendane: fashion designer
2007 | Keith Josef Adkins: playwright
2006 | 20th Anniversary
2005 | Thom Shaw: printmaker
2004 | Melvin Grier: photographer
2003 | Annie Ruth: spoken word
2002 | William Menefield: jazz piano
2001 | La-Vaune Henry: soprano
2000 | Dayton Contemporary Dance Second Company
1999 | Charlotte Blake Alston: storyteller
1998 | Sharon M. Draper: author
1997 | John Blake, Jr.: jazz violinist
1996 | Dhana Bradley-Morton: actress
1995 | Frederick A. Wallace: conservator
1993 | Tarleton Blackwell: painter
1992 | Sebronette Barnes: soprano
1991 | William Greaves: documentary filmmaker
1990 | Michael Harper: poet
1989 | Tyrone Geter: painter
1988 | Kathy Wade: jazz vocalist
1987 | William de Valentine: opera singer
1986 | Nikki Giovanni: poet
Residence Sponsor
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Program Sponsor
Phyllis McCallum and Steve Jemison
Artist Accommodations
Generously provided by Morgan and Eddie Rigaud
Media Support Provided by
The Cincinnati Herald
The Voice of Black Cincinnati