The artwork for the 2019 Virginia Master Naturalist recertification pin is by Linda Duncan, VMN member in the Old Rag Chapter. It features a chestnut branch with leaves, burr, and nuts visible.
Each year, the VMN program creates a special recertification pin to recognize those volunteers who have completed another 40 hours of service and 8 hours of continuing education during the year. Each pin highlights a different Virginia native species, and the artwork has been almost entirely by VMN volunteers. Some years, we ask a specific person for a particular photo, drawing, or painting. In other years, we have had a contest to choose the design.
For our 2019 recertification pin, we decided on the species (the American Chestnut), and then we invited all VMN volunteers to submit photos and artwork representing that species. We were completely overwhelmed by the fabulous response! We have extremely talented volunteers. In the end, we asked seven individuals in the Virginia Department of Forestry (folks who know both our program and chestnuts well) to serve as our judges. We are excited to not only share the winning artwork by Linda Duncan in our Old Rag Chapter (featured above), but also all of the submissions (below). We think this collection is such an amazing and diverse representation of this iconic species that we are looking for other ways to feature it, with the artists' permission.
Click on any image in the gallery to enlarge it and to see the name of the artist.
For our 2019 recertification pin, we decided on the species (the American Chestnut), and then we invited all VMN volunteers to submit photos and artwork representing that species. We were completely overwhelmed by the fabulous response! We have extremely talented volunteers. In the end, we asked seven individuals in the Virginia Department of Forestry (folks who know both our program and chestnuts well) to serve as our judges. We are excited to not only share the winning artwork by Linda Duncan in our Old Rag Chapter (featured above), but also all of the submissions (below). We think this collection is such an amazing and diverse representation of this iconic species that we are looking for other ways to feature it, with the artists' permission.
Click on any image in the gallery to enlarge it and to see the name of the artist.
