On April 10th, BRDC presented the Butterflies of
Sullivan Swamp poster to Doris Halsey’s art class at Grayson County High
School. The poster is a culmination of
efforts by these students to accurately represent butterflies documented last
summer in Sullivan Swamp by other teams of kids through BRDC’s SiteSection
program. This is BRDC’s second poster
collaboration with GCHS, last year’s being aquatic invertebrates of Wilson
Creek, with our Fish Bugs program.
BRDC believes that through careful documentation, such as is
found within the proud tradition of natural history illustration, participants
gain insight and a closer connection to the targeted subjects, such as
butterflies and stone flies. We also
believe that publishing their work helps bring attention and legitimacy to the
wider community, while at the same time offering an educational tool that can
be shared.
To that end, BRDC funds a support program called Blue Ridge
Illustrated, designed and directed by Aaron Floyd, who brought this project to
Doris Halsey. Doris, in turn, provided a
team of talented students and her classroom for exploration through art. The students who participated are as
follows: Morgan Hall, Maria Rodriguez,
Skyler Osborne, Nicole Campanella, Elijah Day, Ray Hale, Dylan Brannon (misspelled
on the poster and our apologies), Jonah Smith (not mentioned on the poster,
again our apologies), and Cameron Cox.
Back-up graphic support was provided by Aaron Floyd, Devin Floyd and
Doris Halsey.
We wish to thank SiteSection survey groups from the Oak Hill
Academy Boy Scout Troop, Grayson County High School’s ECO Club, the Southwest
Virginia Home Educators and especially Devin Floyd as creator and director of
SiteSection.
We also wish to thank the Harris and Frances Block
Foundation and MUSE (Musicians United to Sustain the Environment) for their
generous support.
Scott Jackson-Ricketts
Director, BRDC
