The 2022 Brookgreen Medal was designed and created by NSS Elected Member, Jeremiah D. Welsh. Titled “Days of Silence – Nights of Song” the medal features a lazing American alligator viewed from below the water’s surface with daylight fracturing and filtering into the surrounding water. Welsh chose to position the view below the water’s surface in the design as part of his artistic passion to “look beneath the surface of things.”  On the reverse, a croaking Southern Toad is seated on fallen flowers and foliage, with lily pads, fireflies and a crescent moon represented.

Established in 1972 by NSS Fellow C. Paul Jennewein (1890-1978), and now celebrating its 50th year, each medal depicts one of three themes chosen by the sculptor:  “The Sculptor at Work”, “History of South Carolina”, and “Flora and Fauna of the Southeast”.  In addition to entering the collection of Brookgreen Gardens, the medals are in the collections of National Sculpture Society, American Numismatic Society, Smithsonian Institution, and The British Museum.

As part of the unveiling of the medal in late May, Welsh presented a lecture to a standing room crowd and addressed the membership, donors, and Board of Directors of Brookgreen Gardens.