Scouting News

Girl Scout melds loves of nature, art

Posted

Rebecca Tredwell has always loved nature. When it was time for the Girl Scout to do her Gold Award project, she knew that it would be centered on the environment.

Tredwell, of Wantagh, just had to look one town over, as she completed her project at the Tackapausha Museum and Preserve in Seaford. The 17-year-old created four murals that are now installed in the theater at the museum on Washington Avenue.

“I couldn’t think of a better place that would benefit from it,” she said. “It feels really good knowing that I could help them out in a permanent way.”

A member of Troop 3296, Tredwell has been in the Girl Scouts for 13 years. The Gold Award is the highest honor in the scouts, and a girl must complete a project on their own, unlike the Bronze and Silver awards which are team efforts.

The four murals capture habitats commonly found on Long Island — meadows, beaches, forests and wetlands. Each painting also includes animals commonly found in the those habitats, such as seagulls on the beach, snakes in a meadow, mallard ducks in wetlands, and box turtles in forests.

Tredwell reached out to the Tackapausha staff, saying she was looking to do a project. They said they were interested in the murals to use as a learning tool. So Tredwell combined her two loves, nature and art.

Each mural is done on three-quarter inch plywood and measures six feet wide by three feet high. She received some donations of materials, as well as funds supplied by her troop. Tredwell estimates that she spent about $150 on paint alone.

Tredwell, who has never done a project of this magnitude before, said each mural took about 20 hours to paint, and factoring in planning time, she has put more than 100 hours of work into her project, which began in August. She had to do research on the different habitats to make sure her paintings would be accurate. “A lot of the animals that are in the murals are around the museum,” she said.

Tackapausha will host children’s programs centered around her murals. Tredwell created an accompanying pamphlet with games, challenges and information.

Page 1 / 2