Mountain Home ninth grader Josie Arp recently finished in the top 20 in the National Junior Duck Stamp Art Contest. The 15-year-old also won the Junior Duck Stamp Conservation Message Contest at the competition.
Arp’s acrylic rendition of a ruddy duck placed 17th at the national competition, which included entries from all 50 states, Washington D.C. and two U.S. territories. The winner, 18-year-old Margaret McMullern of Kansas, will have her painting of a pair of hooded mergansers featured on the 2021-22 Junior Duck Stamp.
The Conservation Message Contest encourages students to express in words the spirit of what they have learned through classroom discussion, research and planning for their Junior Duck Stamp Contest entries. Arp’s winning message was “When the world turned upside-down nature calmly and quietly laid a blanket of comfort over us all.”
Students in kindergarten through grade twelve participate in their annual state Junior Duck Stamp Program through their school, home, art studio or after-school group, or from a national wildlife refuge, park or nature center. After learning about wetlands, waterfowl and wildlife conservation, they express their learning through a drawing or painting of a duck, goose or swan.
This year, nearly 9,000 young artists submitted entries to the Junior Duck Stamp contests around the nation.
McMullen will receive $1,000 for winning the competition. Arp will receive $200 for winning the Conservation Message Contest.
At the state competition, Arp’s ruddy duck painting won the 7th-9th grade age group as well as being named “Best in Show” and advancing to the national competition. Arp chose to feature ruddy ducks in her artwork because their unique appearance appealed to her, she says.
Arp’s painting took more than 20 hours and several months to complete. Arp used different reference photos for the background, water and sunset, and a design of her very own for the ruddy duck in order to create her winning piece, titled “Serenity at Sunset.”
Arp, who lives in Mountain Home, has always enjoyed art and taken art classes for the past few years with her teacher, Allison Wiseman of Lakeview.
In the 2020 state contest, Arp also won “Best in Show” and went on to represent Arkansas in the National portion of the program, where she placed 17th overall with her mixed media entry of “Geese at Dawn.”
Junior Duck Stamps, sales of which support educational programs and activities that nurture future conservationists, can be purchased online through the U.S. Postal Service and at some national wildlife refuges. The 2021-22 Junior Duck Stamp will go on sale on June 25.
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