August’s work showed a high level of maturity that caught the selection committee’s eye. August is now attending Western Washington University, where she intended to study arts education.

In 2019 The Exchange, Orcas Island’s reuse store, received a huge donation of artwork from the family of Ralph and Terrell Kaplan. The gift contained so much great stuff that we built the Exchange Loft Gallery just to house the collection. Since then, the gallery has been the landing place for hundreds of valuable items donated to The Exchange.

In keeping with the Kaplan’s love of art and kids, we awarded the first Exchange Arts Scholarship in 2024. The Exchange will devote $2,500 this year in gallery sales to the scholarship, which will go to an Orcas High School senior who intends to pursue a higher education in the arts.

A preference will be given to students serious about visual arts. However, the committee is happy to receive applications for students intent on studying other forms of art, including (but not limited to) music, dance, industrial arts, etc.

Funds will be provided to the selected student upon successful registration with a college, university, or other arts-related educational organization. Funds would likely be used for tuition or fees, unless otherwise agreed to between the student and The Exchange.

The Exchange will also offer the winning student commission-free space in the Gallery to show and sell their art.

We encourage our donors to consider gifting fine arts and crafts to us with the knowledge that some of the proceeds will go to this scholarship fund. Visits to the gallery are by appointment only. Email store manager, Jeff Ludwig, at jeff@exchangeorcas.org if you want to take a look!