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NEWS RELEASE
SUSTAINABLE ORILLIA
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Biodiversity: It’s All Around Us — that’s the theme of the 2023 Sustainable Orillia student art contest.
Building on the success of last year’s art competition, Sustainable Orillia has launched what promises to become an annual event — our student art contest. This year students from local schools, elementary and secondary, have been invited to share their vision of biodiversity — the many, many forms of life that surround us in the Orillia area.
Canadian singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell’s iconic song, Big Yellow Taxi (1970), underscored the point that “You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone.” In the same song, Mitchell also sings, “They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.” Ms. Mitchell was far, far ahead of her time with respect to drawing attention to human activities disrupting the natural world.
Expert estimates on our current extinction rate vary and they vary widely. As lay folks, all we can truly discern is that the loss of biodiversity is happening. Through our actions we are putting the balance and the beauty of nature at risk. Joni Mitchell’s words elegantly echo what could happen if we don’t focus on preserving “what we’ve got” before it’s too late. Sustainable Orillia feels this contest will help bring that challenge to the fore.
The contest invites students to explore — directly in nature or virtually — the many amazing species (plant, animal or aquatic) that share this south-central part of Ontario with us. After students have done some exploration and decide on one or more species to represent local “biodiversity,” it’s on to the fun part — celebrating their selected species in a drawing or painting. The contest ends as of May 31, 2023 and arrangements have been made for submissions to be collected as of that date. Submissions should include a short (50 to 100 words) note explaining why a particular species was chosen.
Winning submissions will be determined by a jury, and all submissions will be considered for publication in Sustainable Orillia’s 2024 Biodiversity Calendar, as well as a Biodiversity Art Show being planned for Sustainable Orillia Month this coming September. There are prizes for the first- ($300), second- ($200) and third-place ($100) selections for secondary school students and for the nine additional submissions chosen for the calendar ($50 each) from among all submissions.
Our warmest thanks to our sponsors, Scott’s Garden Centre and Manticore Books, for their generous support, as well as to the many local art teachers who are supporting and collaborating to make this event a success for their students.
Last year’s student entrants looked to the future and shared their vision of a Sustainable Orillia in 2050. Their submissions confirmed the depth of talent, imagination and importance young people bring to this important subject. Their work was lively and full of hope for a sustainable future. (To see samples of the 2022 submissions, click here.) At Sustainable Orillia, we are hoping once again, in 2023, to showcase the creative messages of our community’s young people.
For more information about the competition and how to participate, click here.
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