Our Mission

The mission of Art Academy is to inspire, educate, and build confidence in children and adults through the core fundamentals and elements of visual art. We are dedicated to fostering self-expression, creativity and pride in our students’ individuality. Through captivating and professional instruction, we encourage students to create and appreciate their unique artistic abilities in a fun and uplifting environment. 


Art Academy Is Growing

We are thrilled that Art Academy has been so well received by our local community. Our mission to inspire, educate and build confidence in children and adults through the core fundamentals and elements of visual art has resonated with so many of you. Like you, we find huge value in creativity and self expression. To continue to serve our community in the best way possible, we have added a few like-minded people to our team. We thought you’d like to learn a bit about us.

Bekah Duplechin, Owner

Bekah opened Art Academy in 2018 as a way to use her talents and passion to positively impact the community. With art being cut from school curriculums, children are missing out on opportunities to develop a creative mindset and express themselves through art. Bekah seeks to bring art education back to elementary age children through weekly lessons and events. She also wants to provide adults the opportunity to draw "more than a stick figure" as many suggest they can’t do. With all the pressure and stresses of daily life, she believes art is a wonderful way to connect with others and reduce stress and anxiety in both adults and children.

Bekah’s love for art began when she was a little girl drawing her stuffed animals and playing in her mother’s own art studio. After graduating from Southeastern with a degree in Fine Arts, she spent the next 14 years as a freelance graphic designer designing marketing materials for small businesses. In 2016, Bekah discovered her passion for teaching. She became an adjunct instructor of Visual Communication at LSU and began hosting summer art camps in her home.

Now Bekah is following in her mother’s footsteps, combining her passions for art and teaching while supporting her family. Watching the students grow in their abilities and seeing their pride when creating unique works of art keeps her motivated to pursue her dream.

With a community over competition mindset, Bekah loves finding new ways to collaborate with other creatives. She has been inspired by the talented creative community and strives to continue to learn new techniques and refine her own artistic abilities. Her favorite way to connect with her inner artist is through art journaling, and she often holds adult art journaling workshops at Art Academy.

Channe’l Andre, Manager

Channe’l always knew she wanted to be a teacher from an early age, setting up schoolhouses and playing teacher for her sister and the other neighborhood children.  During her time at Indiana University, she studied Education, Communication, and Leadership while staying active in volunteering in the local community.  It was during this season she deepened her passion for serving others and helping them achieve their full potential. 

She took those skills with her into her next career where she began to developed curriculum and teach adult education classes weekly.  After moving to Louisiana, Channe’l found herself with the opportunity to teach at the preschool level, and was right at home singing songs, making crafts, and developing strong bonds with the children and families in her classes. 

It wasn’t until Channe’l began the task of teaching Art that she really found her calling in life.  She loves to teach the basics of making art, the deep rich history of it, and instilling a healing confidence to everyone she works with. You will never find a bigger cheerleader for your child. 

Channe’l also loves watching Doctor Who with her family, playing boards games, and drinking coffee. 

Haley Dupre-Koening

Creativity, imagination and a desire to learn were things that were ingrained in Haley ever since she was little. Inspired by the teachers and artists in her own family, she felt like it was always in her future to pursue something that would allow her to explore what brought her joy and teach others how to use art to do the same. As the oldest of 8 siblings and a mom of two, Haley felt like this is what she's trained for her entire life. She finally got to experience her dream in 2019 when she began teaching in a Montessori setting. 

Self-expression, stories behind the artists, the diversity, the light bulb moments in her students, the freedom, FUN and unity that teaching art brings to the classroom are the reasons Haley loves her classroom! Outside of Art Academy, Haley is an accountant at John H Carter. She loves running, eating Chinese food, belting Broadway tunes around the house and traveling with her family.

Samantha Hawkins

Samantha has always had a love for arts and crafts. As a child she would collect any and all “how to” books that allowed her to tap into her creative side. Her books ranged from how to make balloon animals to how to fold origami. Any project that allowed her to create something fun and learn new skills was how she would spend her time. As she got older, she would find ways to share her love for art with others. Sam volunteered as camp craft lady for many years at her summer church camp. She would also serve with her mom during her girl scout years helping younger troops of girls with different art projects.

As an adult, Sam has developed a love for drawing and painting. Her absolute favorite painting is Van Gogh’s Starry Night. She likes to recreate this painting any opportunity she gets, like during a pumpkin or egg decorating contest, and even on a sports coat for a Halloween costume. Recently, she has had the opportunity again to share this love of art and painting with kids and adults in her community through the Art Academy. She loves people, and she loves helping others find their own love for art. Sam feels that helping our customers along the creative process and seeing them proud of what they created is what makes this place and this job so wonderful.

Samantha is also a registered nurse at Woman’s Hospital. She is a mom of 4 very active boys, and if she is not in the art studio or the hospital, you will probably find her on the ball field cheering on her kiddos. Even though she is a boy mom, Samantha loves everything girly, rainbow and sparkly, and anything related to Disney is her jam.

Sadie Boudreaux

Born and raised in Baton Rouge, Sadie has always had a passion for art ever since she was little.  Her journey has allowed her to be a part of many pop-ups around Baton Rouge as a self-taught artist. She is proficient in both acrylic and oil paintings, digital art, and many other art mediums.

She was a youth coordinator and teacher for her past church and volunteered in Los Angeles where she studied at YWAM Art and Discipleship Training School. Here, she used her love of art and people to connect with the people of LA and was able to create her first ever art mural. She also worked under the famous artists, Iris Scott and Mark Carter. 

Sadie is eager to make the most of her career here at Art Academy and will become one of our weekly class teachers. When she isn't working, she is either furthering her  freelance artist career or spending time with her friends, family, church and her cat, Benjamin. She loves nature, art, video games and animals.  


We are excited to have found a team of artists to share our love of art with the community. Thank you for being a part of our journey!