Art exhibition to feature K-12 educators, opens with lecture Oct. 30

Northwest Missouri State University and its Department of Fine and Performing Arts will feature the creations of art educators during the next exhibit at the Olive DeLuce Art Gallery.

“Artists Who Teach” is a juried regional exhibition, featuring active and retired K-12 art educators in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa opens Monday, Oct. 30, with a lecture presented by juror Brad LeDuc at 5:30 p.m. in Room 244 of the Olive DeLuce Fine Arts Building and an opening reception afterward.

The exhibit features the work of 15 artists and includes sculpture, ceramics, painting and digital art.  It continues through Friday, Nov. 17.

“This is a great chance for community members to experience art from professional artists and educators in the region,” Dyan Akkouche, an assistant professor of art education at Northwest, said. “It’s important for people to realize that many K-12 teachers art teachers have dual careers as artists, maintaining their own creative practice while sharing their passions with students. This exhibit celebrates their work and contributions in both fields.”

Brad LeDuc

In addition to working as a professional painter and printmaker, LeDuc has spent the last 22 years in the classroom as a K-12 art educator and currently is a high school art teacher at Washburn Rural School in Topeka, Kansas. An innovative educator, he strives to promote an environment that challenges and nourishes students. 

LeDuc, a recipient of numerous teaching accolades, was an artist-in-residence at the Alice C. Sabatini Gallery in Topeka, Kansas, in 2022. A Milken Family Foundation documentary, titled “Brad LeDuc: Portrait of an Artist,” also received a 2020 Heartland Emmy. 

He was named the 2018-19 Outstanding Secondary Art Educator of the Year by the Kansas Art Education Association. He received a fellowship from the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes in 2014. In 2013, he was recognized by the Milken Family Foundation with a Milken Educator Award and as the Distinguished Kansan of the Year for education, an honor presented by The Topeka Capital-Journal.

The newly renovated Olive DeLuce Art Gallery is open 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 3 to 6:30 p.m. Monday and Wednesday, 1 to 5 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, and noon to 5 p.m. Friday. For more information, call 660.562.1326 or email fparts@nwmissouri.edu.