The Entirety of Society by Katelyn Robinson was the winning submission for the Visionary Scholar Award.
The Butternut Valley Alliance is pleased to announce Katelyn Robinson, a senior at Morris Central School, as the first winner of its Visionary Scholar Award. Katie will receive $500 toward her undergraduate studies at Hartwick College this autumn.
Katie’s winning painting, The Entirety of Society (16” x 20”, acrylic on canvas), is a landscape of our watershed with a subtle yet powerful ‘call to action’. Litter is strewn along the walking and bicycle paths of the Butternut Creek, showing people’s lack of awareness of their environment. A diverse group of young and old, African American and Caucasian is enjoying activities oblivious to the mess around them.
Katie expressed: “Winning this award shows me that I can accurately display environmental issues in today’s society in my artwork and hopefully bring awareness to them.”
Katie found her passion for art after a hospitalization in 10th grade. Painting was the only activity she could do in her recovery. In 2019, her work was exhibited and sold at the Butternut Valley Arts and Crafts Center. Over the last two years, she developed a substantial and sensitive portfolio, which she submitted with her college applications and for scholarship applications.
Her Environmental Science teacher, Heather Grant, commented: “I am thrilled Katie has won the Butternut Valley Alliance award. Katie has been actively involved in many of our extracurricular science activities and has always shown great concern and dedication to the environment. I am incredibly proud of the hard work she puts into all she does and this award is well deserved!”
Katie expressed eagerness to continue her environmental activism and volunteered to organize her peers and their families to participate in trash clean up for a BVA activity in the coming months.
By winning this award, she and her family become annual members of the Butternut Valley Alliance.
High-school seniors in our watershed were asked to envision and communicate their vision of a sustainable future for the Butternut Valley using a creative media of their choice.
BVA’s goal for this annual competition is to spark community-wide engagement in the civic, cultural, economic, agricultural and environmental actions needed to bring their visions alive.
The fund was established by BVA Director Carla Hall in honor of her late husband Ben-Ami Friedman. “As an environmental visionary, Ben was deeply committed to the Butternut Valley. Inspiring the next generation to participate in its future would make him very happy.”
If you are interested in seeing more of her art, Katie can be reached at midnightmist.art@gmail.com. You can follow her on Instagram @m.idnight.mist.
For further information about the Visionary Scholar Award contact the the Butternut Valley Alliance.