About the Graduating Scholarship

The Graduating Scholarship Award, generously donated by Cathy Van Raay-Myers, provides $1,000 to support a Chatham-Kent secondary student pursuing post-secondary education in the Arts.

2026 Graduating Scholarship Award Winner - Elise Donais

Through years of self-guided exploration, Elise Donais has cultivated a visual voice that is both intimate and distinct. Moving fluidly between oil paint, watercolour, graphite, collage, ceramic, and found-object sculpture, her work unfolds as a series of visual reflections—stories shaped by transformation, lived experience, and the quiet pull of memory.

Her portrait Becoming the Self is deeply rooted in that journey. Begun during a time marked by self-doubt and inner struggle, the artwork evolved alongside the artist herself. As the image took form, it became a mirror—a space where care, self-love, and recognition slowly emerged, each gesture laid gently onto the surface by her own hand.

Elise finds inspiration in the people who move through her everyday life, believing creativity resides in all of us.

Currently enrolled at Chatham-Kent Secondary School. Elise is active in her community through art-based volunteering and facilitation and will continue her creative journey next fall at a post-secondary Interior Design program in Toronto where her sensitivity to space, story, and transformation will only continue to deepen.