Last week, the Issaquah School District purchased two student paintings for its Kateri Brow Memorial collection.

At the May 27 meeting of the district’s school board, Superintendent Ron Thiele presented checks to Beaver Lake Middle School sixth grader Sanjana Natarajan and Cascade Ridge Elementary School fourth grader Himaja Kotti in exchange for their environmentally themed art.

Natarajan’s painting, “Marine Life in the Gulf of Mexico,” depicts fish and a turtle swimming in the bottom of the ocean. In her artist statement, Natarajan said the painting was meant to bring attention to the preciousness of marine life in the face of human intervention.

“The world would be a better place if oil spills did not happen,” the statement read.

Kotti’s painting, “A Need of Water,” depicts a young girl walking to a shore with eight jugs strapped to her back.

“Water is a fundamental human need,” Kotti’s statement read.

Every year, the school district purchases one or two paintings from the PTSA’s Reflections art show to become a permanent fixture in the Kateri Brow Memorial art collection in its administration building. The Reflections art show is open to submissions from students at all grade levels and includes works from all performing, aural and visual arts.