Youth Arts in the Parks 2015 Art Contest Exhibit

Date: March 31, 2015
Contact: Jodi French-Burr, 304-465-2632

2015 Best in Show artist Joshua King created this painted trillium using colored pencils. Joshua is a 12th grader from Fayetteville High School in Fayette County. 

Glen Jean, West Virginia, March 30, 2015—Flowers are blooming and spring is in the air. See how local students celebrate the glories of springtime in Appalachia through art at the Youth Arts in the Parks 2015 Appalachian Spring Wildflower Art Exhibit at Tamarack throughout April. In partnership with Tamarack and the school systems of Fayette, Nicholas, Raleigh, and Summers counties, New River Gorge National River sponsored an art contest for area students in grades K –12. Students learned about the region's wildflowers and Appalachian ecology while they created art using watercolors, oil pastels, pencils, clay, paper, and more.

The creativity and artistic talents of the student participants yielded amazing works inspired by wildflowers of southern West Virginia. Five-hundred thirty-eight students from area public and private schools, homeschools, and private individuals participated in this year's contest. The top 63 juried pieces are showcased at Tamarack in Beckley from April 1^st–28^th. The top five contest pieces are featured in Tamarack's David L. Dickirson Fine Art Gallery and are for public sale alongside adult artists in the Imparting Art: Work of Art Educators of West Virginia spring art show. The works of the other 58 featured youth artists are on exhibit in the vestibules that lead to Tamarack's center courtyard. Tamarack is open daily from8:00 am to 8:00 pm. See the online version of this exhibit at www.nps.gov/neri soon.

Community members and visitors are all invited to visit Tamarack to see how nature in central Appalachia inspires our youth. But don't let your explorations stop there, as this special exhibit is part of New River Gorge Wildflower Weekend, a free public program event scheduled for Friday, April 24^ththrough Sunday, April 26^th, 2015. This fun, free event celebrates spring in Appalachia and the diverse ecology of our local region. This event is a public lands partnership between New River Gorge National River, the West Virginia State Parks of Babcock, Hawks Nest, Little Beaver, Pipestem Resort and Twin Falls Resort, and Tamarack. The complete event program schedule is available at www.nps.gov/neri, www.wvstateparks.com, www.tamarackwv.com, or Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/newrivergorgenps. Better yet, stop by any of these sites for a visit and celebrate the wonders of springtime in Appalachia!

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