Choose one (or more!) to inspire your artwork.

1. My Special Place in Nature

Draw or paint a place outdoors where you feel calm, happy, or strong. It could be your backyard, a forest, a park, or even a dream landscape.

2. Nature Through My Window

Look out a window at home or school. What do you see? Capture a scene that changes with the seasons, weather, or time of day.

3. The Land Remembers

What stories do you imagine the land holds? Create an artwork that tells a story from the past or imagines the land speaking through color, texture, or symbols.

4. Close-Up Wonders

Zoom in! Choose a leaf, rock, bug, or flower and explore all the little details. What shapes and patterns do you notice?

5. I Am a Tree / River / Mountain

If you could become part of the landscape, what would you be? Create a self-portrait that blends you with an element of nature.

6. Textures of the Land

Experiment with texture by using leaves, bark rubbings, sand, or recycled materials to represent different landscapes such as forest, desert, ocean, or city green space.

What Is Your Portable Paradise?

In Roger Robinson’s poem, a portable paradise is something you carry with you to feel whole.
Prompt: Create a drawing or painting of a place in nature that you carry in your heart real or imagined. This place helps you feel calm, free, or brave.

Trace the Ridges of the Earth

Robinson writes, “trace its ridges in your pocket.”
Prompt: Choose a small object from nature (a rock, leaf, or shell) and create an artwork that uses its texture or shape. What feelings or memories does it hold?

Paradise as Protection

In the poem, paradise is something “you can take with you.”
Prompt: Create a symbolic piece of art (abstract or realistic) that shows how nature offers you protection, strength, or belonging.

Paradise in Unlikely Places

A portable paradise doesn’t have to be elaborate. It could be a crack of sunlight, a single tree, or the sound of rain.
Prompt: Find something small in your natural surroundings that brings you joy or peace. Turn it into the star of your artwork.

• Eligibility: Open to all K-12 students.
• Medium: Any 2-D visual art medium (painting, drawing, collage, mixed media, etc.) is acceptable.
• Size: Artwork should not exceed 12 x 16 inches.
• Deadline: Submissions are due by Friday, January 21, 2026
• Submission: Please submit a high-resolution photograph or scan of the artwork along with a brief description (100-200 words) of your inspiration for your work and the connection to the land you showcased.
• Teachers and parents or guardians are asked to select a limited number of student works to submit – one entry per student. Museum staff will select a maximum of thirty-three pieces for the show. Additional works may be shown in a JSMA exhibition at the Eugene Airport concurrent to or following this exhibition.

Selected works will be displayed at the JSMA from March 7 - September 27, 2026. Participants will be able to see their art alongside pieces inspired by the same theme, creating a rich tapestry of visual and auditory inspiration.

For more information or any questions, please contact Gabrielle Miller, Museum Educator at artheals@uoregon.edu.