Karen Aim Memorial Scholarship awarded

The two recipients of the inaugural Karen Aim Memorial Youth Art Scholarship were announced at senior college prizegivings this week. Kate Bevin from Taupo-nui-a-Tia College and Larissa Meredith from Tauhara College each received $2000 grants.

 

Karen Aim, a young 26-year-old Scottish visitor to Taupo, was murdered in January this year. In her memory, the Karen Aim Memorial Working Group was established and initiated youth art scholarships.

 

The intention of the scholarships is to remember and honour Karen through grants to two art students pursuing education at a tertiary institution. The Working Group has secured funding for three years and would like to thank the public for their donations as well as donors Creative Arts Taupo, Craters of the Moon Trust, Rotary Club of Taupo and Mayor Rick Cooper.

 

The scholars who receive the grants are being asked to produce a piece of art suitable for display in a public space – either here or in the Orkneys, Scotland – before they graduate from their tertiary study.

 

Karen attended Orkneys’ Holm Primary School and Kirkwall Grammar School where she started showing a strong flair for art. After leaving school in 1999, she studied at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in Dundee and graduated with a BA (Hons) in Printed Textiles in 2003.

 

Karen was a vibrant young woman whose life ended brutally at a street corner not far from Taupo-nui-a-Tia College. Karen was in Taupo on a working holiday and was employed at Lava Glass.

 

At the presentation of both scholarships, Karen Aim Memorial Working Group spokesperson Reverend John Howell said, “We hope Karen’s memory will live on through art and in the development of young people who may make a creative contribution to our humanity. We also hope the Taupo community will honour Karen’s memory by committing to living without violence and to work to make our town a safer place,” he said.