2025-2026 Jane Brinkley Thumm Memorial Arts Contest
1st Place Visual Arts Category: “The Final Nesting Tide” by Kyler Blake from Broadwater Academy
Wetlands Watch was honored to host the 2025-2026 Memorial Arts Contest for Virginia high school students exploring the theme of sea level rise, flooding, and life at water’s changing edge. Named the “Tides of Tomorrow”, this Arts contest is held in memory of Jane Brinkley Thumm, a Norfolk native and local artist whose careful attention to detail and openness to form can be seen in her pieces across Southern Virginia. Our panel of 7 judges spanning art, education, and expression judged 64 total entries across 30 schools in visual and performative art categories. With water changing Virginia at larger scales, causing environmental consequences reaching into civic life, culture and the habits of place across the Commonwealth, the “Tides of Tomorrow” gives youth the ability to express themselves creatively in how these climate related changes affect them. All students across Virginia, including the three visual arts and two performance arts winners, were invited to the Chrysler in March to display their work at the Catch the King Arts & Appreciation event at the Perry Art Glass Studio. This contest was made possible by the generous support of the Thumm and Mayfield family, both of whom have been longtime supporters of Wetlands Watch and our mission to bring all ages of the community together to make science accessible and interesting. Through this arts contest, students were brought into a space that they are not always a part of and able to express their observations and interpretations of the natural world, while amplifying their voices and concerns through art. Wetlands Watch is excited to continue the “Tides of Tomorrow” Memorial Arts contest with the 2026-2027 submission window now open!
