2023 Winners Announced!

Check out the amazing work of our Island’s young artists in

The Winner’s Gallery: Hope & Climate Action

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In 2014, VCS launched what would become an annual tradition: an art contest to encourage our Island’s high school students to deepen their connections with nature and the habitats that sustain it — and to show off their incredible talents!

The Art of Conservation is a creative space for students to contemplate and respond to environmental issues and inspirations. In doing so, they explore a meeting ground of critical thinking and art, and gain insight into the power of imagery to express their ideas or even catalyze social change.

The art contest is also an opportunity for VCS to encourage a deepening of our students’ sense of place, vital to their future efforts to protect what today’s art is celebrating. An image is worth a thousand words, but the process of creation could be worth even more: the inspiration, reflection, discussion, and above all, dedication shared by a generation who will inherit these natural wonders and the existential challenges they face.

Thanks to the amazing support of teachers from MV Regional High School and the Public Charter Schools, and the assistance of our judges, guest artists, sponsors, and others, The Art of Conservation contest has grown bigger and more inclusive over the years, bringing into the fold ever more diverse media, creative writing and poetry, music, and most recently, the contributions of Middle School students as well.

Now let’s see the art!

2023: Hope & Climate Action

2022: Climate

(Previous years’ galleries still under construction – please check back!)

2021: love it. protect it. mv

2020: Solace & Insight

2019: Connect

2018: Habitat

2017: Discovery

2016: Waste

2015: Water

2014: Three Questions (the original)

Header image: “Green Dew” by Margaret Sykes, for the 2021 Art of Conservation. A “VCS Staff Pick” that found its way to the cover of our Winter 2021/22 newsletter!

Financial support for the Art of Conservation comes from the Martha’s Vineyard Cultural Council