<\/p>\n
In 2009, Mancos High School senior Amorina Lee-Martinez was the first recipient of the Cortez Cultural Center\u2019s art scholarship.<\/p>\n
Four years later, she is ready to give back to the organization that has helped fund her education.<\/p>\n
An exhibition of her work will open on Friday, May 31, with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Center.<\/p>\n
One of the scholarship requirements was that Lee-Martinez return with a show or teach a class.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow that I have enough art for a show, it\u2019s a good way to give back,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Lee Martinez just finished her fourth year at the University of Colorado-Boulder. She will go back for one more year to finish her double major in environmental studies and studio arts.<\/p>\n
Her future plans include pursuing her education through the doctoral level.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m interested in art that educates about the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not a new idea for Lee-Martinez, who in her eighth-grade year participated in the Pumas on Parade project. Lee-Martinez was the youngest artist nominated to do the project on her own. On one side of her larger-than-life puma, she painted its home habitat. On the other side, she depicted an industrial setting.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was the beginning of my environmental art,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve recently become very passionate about water in the West.<\/p>\n
She also spent a semester studying in Costa Rico last fall, analyzing an animal crossing on a highway and strategizing mitigation, including a sign featuring her artwork.<\/p>\n
The Cultural Center scholarship has been inspirational as well as instrumental in helping pay her educational expenses.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe scholarship was the push I needed to make sure I got a degree in studio arts.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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