MDC recognizes local Junior Duck Stamp award winners

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Nixa's Vivian Bashar and Maddie Martin focused their artistic talents on nature to earn first-place finishes in the state competition of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (USFWS) Junior Duck Stamp Contest.

Bashar, who is 17 and will be a senior at Nixa High School and Martin, 10, who is entering the fifth grade at Inman Intermediate School in Nixa, were honored Saturday, July 27 at the Missouri Department of Conservation's (MDC) Springfield Conservation Nature Center. Bashar's painting of a wood duck earned first place in state in the Grade 10-12 category and also won Best of Show honors. Martin's painting of a Barrow's goldeneye duck earned first place in state in the Grade 4-6 category.

The USFWS' Junior Duck Stamp Contest is for young artists from kindergarten through grade 12. Competitions are held in each state and a number of U.S. territories. This contest is the culmination of the USFWS' Junior Duck Stamp educational program. After studying waterfowl anatomy and habitat, young artists are asked to express what they've learned by drawing, painting, or sketching a picture of an eligible North American waterfowl species. Both Bashar's and Martin's paintings were oil paintings on pastel board.

"This contest teaches young people about conservation," said Greg Chappell, a local art instructor who instructed both Bashar and Martin for the contest. "Too many kids are on their phones so much that they don't know what wildlife is all about." Chappell knows what the Junior Duck Stamp competition is all about - he has been the instructor for 19 winners in three states.

Both paintings have been on display at MDC's Springfield Conservation Nature Center throughout the month of July.

"The Junior Duck Stamp Contest is a great program because it gives students an opportunity to express themselves in the art they create," said Springfield Conservation Nature Center manager Rudy Martinez. "Combining this with nature gives students a better understanding and appreciation for nature. Connecting people with nature benefits one's mental and physical well-being, and events like the Junior Duck Stamp Contest is a positive step in that direction."