2024-25 Visiting Innovator Creates Community Through Art
In the second year of hosting a local trailblazer through the Class of 2023 Innovation Grant at BB&N, the Teaching and Learning Office (TLO) invited a local artist to work with the whole community. Rob ‘ProBlak’ Gibbs, a Roxbury-based visual artist, spent the 2024-25 school year collaborating across all three BB&N campuses, culminating in a mural reveal at the biennial One School One World.
ProBlak’s journey to campus differed from that of the 2023-24 school year innovator, Liza Talusan. According to Chief Learning Officer Jed Lippard, ProBlak’s candidacy came from a faculty member when the TLO office called for nominations at the end of last year. “When the Visiting Innovator Committee met to consider candidates, he emerged as the top choice for the 2024-2025 school year,” remarked Lippard, signaling a different approach to the position for the new school year.
To kick off the year, ProBlak led some faculty and staff members on a mural tour across Greater Boston, explaining his process and the meaning behind some of his pieces. One of the attending faculty members and Upper School Spanish teachers, Gabriela Gonzenbach, was so inspired that months later, she and her fellow teacher Ana María Valle brought their Spanish 3 Honors students to Roxbury in May.
The mural tours were just the start of ProBlak’s time at BB&N. One of his key days on campus happened in February, when he visited all three campuses to share his work and process, and then introduce an all-school mural that students would create and eventually hang in the Upper School.
In an interview with the Vanguard, BB&N’s student-run newspaper, ProBlak explained how he created the presentation. “That was eight years’ worth of time put into that 20-25 minute presentation, and I wanted people to understand that the story I shared with them took time to build. That was only a piece–a small part that’s the surface to something that goes way deeper into my practice.”
At the culmination of these assemblies, ProBlak invited “students to share their impressions on questions pertaining to BB&N’s core value of kindness,” through collaborating on a mural, noted Lippard. Throughout a week in March, the large ‘1’ made its way through all thirteen grades. Students, from beginners to seniors, drew what kindness meant to them, and then ProBlak finished the piece with his signature style.
At the cornerstone diversity, equity, inclusion, and global education (DEIG) event in April, One School One World, ProBlak unveiled the completed art installation. Featuring an anthropomorphic ‘1,’ complete with red and white Nike Jordan shoes and balancing a globe like a basketball on its finger, the BB&N community saw all three campuses’ collaborative efforts come to fruition.
While the mural and assemblies were the flagship events for ProBlak’s partnership with BB&N, he connected with Upper School students through a workshop and a gallery showing his work in the spring.
Before spring break, ProBlak visited the AP English African American Literature Class to lead an exercise in making their emotions into art. In the Vanguard’s article, Chloe Rankel ’26 noted that “He helped us really dig deep and learn more about ourselves in a way, but also really confront things that you wouldn’t usually talk about, especially with fears.”
His encouragement to students resonated throughout the community. Lippard remarked, “[It’s] hard to say which of Rob’s engagements was most meaningful, but I loved observing his interactions with students. He exudes authenticity, connection, inspiration, and hope – all qualities that feel especially important these days.”
Finally, at the tail-end of the year, ProBlak’s “Deep Breath & Count to 7” photo series graced the upper gallery of the Upper School. BB&N is only the second institution to host this photo series, and he even created a few pieces specifically for this installment. For this final event, community members gathered for an evening in June to commemorate ProBlak’s time on campus and view his art.
In the second year of the innovator grant, funded by the Class of 2023 senior gift, the program took a different approach to the more faculty-focused work from the prior year while still emphasizing the BB&N values of inquiry, integrity, belonging, and kindness. Through his art and words, ProBlak taught the community to express themselves through their craft while keeping an open mind.
Next school year, BB&N will welcome the third innovator and former BB&N English teacher, Eric Hudson, to campus to work with faculty around AI in education.
