The award-winning Duncanson Program honors the achievements of contemporary Black artists working in various disciplines.
The Duncanson Artist-in-Residence Program was established in 1986 to honor the achievements of contemporary African American artists working in various disciplines. The program honors the relationship between African American painter Robert S. Duncanson and his patron, Nicholas Longworth, who commissioned Duncanson to paint landscape murals in the foyer of his home, now the Taft Museum of Art. The breadth of talent featured throughout the residency’s history has been matched by its depth of programming and outreach to the Cincinnati community.
2026 Duncanson Artist-in-Residence: Ayana Ross
The Taft Museum of Art has selected visual artist Ayana Ross as the 2026 Duncanson Artist-in-Residence. The award-winning residency is known for its competitive application and review process. The program’s 40th anniversary celebrates its long-standing cultural significance, elevating the profile of contemporary artists across a variety of disciplines. Ross’s residency will include an exhibition of her work at the Taft Museum of Art and engagement with the community, leading public programs, teaching workshops, and visiting schools across Greater Cincinnati in spring 2026.
Ayana Ross is a visual artist whose work combines traditional oil painting methods, using figurative realism, with the elaborate treatment of patterns and decorative design as a visual language to evoke nostalgia, elevate her subjects, and provide greater context into her work. Often autobiographical in nature, Ross’s paintings employ layered narratives from past and present to examine social issues, such as identity, race, equity, and a general assessment of value systems, while aiming to illuminate the greater lessons that can be learned from everyday people and moments.
Ross holds a Master of Arts degree in painting from Savannah College of Art and Design (2021) and a Master of Arts degree in liberal arts from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (2014). She has been recognized as the 2021 winner of The Bennett Prize, the 2022 recipient of the National Black Art Festival Award in visual arts, the Pittsburgh Foundation’s Eben Demarest Fund Award in 2024, and was a 2024 Mellon Arts & Practitioner Fellow through the Yale Center for the Study of Race, Indigeneity and Transnational Migration.
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Ayana Ross (American), The Sweetest Thing, 2024, oil on canvas, 40 x 60 in. Photo by Deborah Whitlaw Llewellyn 
Ayana Ross (American), Please Pass…It On, 2025, oil on canvas, 48 x 36 in. Photo by Deborah Whitlaw Llewellyn 
Ayana Ross (American), Seed For The Sower, 2024, oil on canvas, 60 x 48 in. Photo by Deborah Whitlaw Llewellyn
Related Article: Robert Duncanson, First African American artist to earn an international reputation
Past Duncanson Artists-in-Residence
2025 | Rich Robbins: Hip-Hop Artist
Rich Robbins is a Chicago-based rapper, songwriter, producer, educator, and TV host whose work blends hip-hop with social critique and visionary themes. As a First Wave Hip Hop & Urban Arts Scholarship Program graduate at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Robbins has earned accolades such as “Best Individual Hip-Hop Artist” from the Chicago Reader and has collaborated with artists such as Mick Jenkins and Saba. With over a million streams, festival performances, and a strong commitment to youth education through initiatives like Respect the Mic, Robbins continues shaping the music scene and his community.
2024 | Tunde Wey: Artist, Writer, and Chef
Tunde Wey is a Nigerian artist, writer, and chef whose work explores food, economics, and systemic power from the perspective of marginalized communities, mainly focusing on global Black working-class experiences. In Cincinnati, Wey examined disparities in business funding and resource access for Black and Brown communities. His residency concluded with a public, immersive experience highlighting these themes.
2023 | Anita Graef: Cellist
Cellist Anita Graef is recognized for her artistry in both traditional and contemporary works and her dedication to outreach, service, and education. Born into a family of musicians, she began playing cello at age four and made her concerto debut at twelve. Later, she earned degrees from the University of Michigan and Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Graef currently performs on a 1923 Italian cello crafted by Ferdinando Garimberti.
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2022 | Ajanae Dawkins: Writer, Performer, and Educator
Ajanae Dawkins is a nationally recognized poet who has performed at venues across the country, including opening for Nikki Giovanni, and whose work has been featured in EBONY Magazine, Button Poetry, and numerous journals like The Offing and Tinderbox Poetry Journal. A two-time Rust Belt regional slam finalist and winner of Tinderbox’s Editors Prize, Dawkins has earned accolades such as finalist for the Cave Canem Chapbook Prize and the Brett Elizabeth Jenkins Poetry Prize. She is an MFA candidate and fellow at Randolph College, an M.Div. candidate at the Methodist Theological School of Ohio, and an editor for Voicemail Poems.
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2021 | Asha Ama Bias-Daniels: Fashion Designer
Asha Ama Bias-Daniels, a Cincinnati native and accomplished fashion designer, is best known for competing on Project Runway, Under the Gunn, and the latest All-Stars season. Her couture work, including pieces for Zendaya and Little Big Town, highlights intricate detailing, draping, and designs that empower Black women while exploring themes like Black identity and resilience. As the founder of Created to Create, a mentorship program for Black teenage girls in Cincinnati, Bias-Daniels combines her passion for fashion with a commitment to uplifting her community through education and self-expression.
2019 | Ya’Ke Smith: Filmmaker
Ya’Ke Smith, known for his unflinching and veracious storytelling style, is a rising voice in independent cinema. His films have received worldwide acclaim and screenings and won awards at over 90 film festivals. He writes and directs television content for AMS Pictures and the REELZ Network and is also an associate film professor at the University of Texas at Austin.
Related Article: Over 10 African American Visual Artists Creating Black Art in Cincinnati
About 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 Duncanson’s artistic contributions.
Interested in joining? Email [email protected] to learn more.
About the Taft Museum of Art
The Taft Museum of Art is recognized nationally as a museum leader that passionately engages people with the arts as envisioned generations ago by the founders Anna Sinton Taft and Charles Phelps Taft. Today, the Taft is a truly unique art museum, holding National Historic Landmark status for both its historic house and Duncanson murals.
Here, guests will find gems nestled into every nook and cranny with stories that have endured for generations. The 200-year-old household has a remarkable collection that spans the Middle Ages through the 19th century. The collection features Chinese porcelains, American furniture, and European decorative arts, including a remarkable collection of French Renaissance enamels and one of the most exceptional medieval ivory sculptures in America.
Restored and reinterpreted for the next century, the Taft Museum of Art offers visitors special exhibitions, a beautiful outdoor garden, a Museum Shop and Lindner Family Café, events and programming for all ages, and so much more. Within its galleries and beyond its walls, the Taft Museum of Art is a one-of-a-kind, multi-sensory experience that puts you at the center of art and history.
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Related Article: Discover Black Artists, Black Jewelry Artisans, and Black Museum Exhibits.
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Images provided by Taft Museum of Art
