She’s 29, very smart, very talented, and about to be handed $500,000.

“It’s just amazing,” said Heather Hurst. “It’s the biggest gift one could ever get.”

Hurst is a graduate of Farmington’s Mt. Blue High School. She’s also an archaeological artist and illustrator. And she’s one of 23 people named today as MacArthur Fellows by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

With the honor comes $500,000 – “no strings attached,” notes the foundation – in support over the next five years.

The money, says Hurst, means independence. She can do whatever she chooses to do.

“It gives you the uninhibited freedom to go where you want to go and do what you want to do,” said Hurst of her cash award. It’s also the means to continue her studies, she said, for much more than five years if she uses the money wisely.

For starters, she says she’ll be buying some books.

Next, she’ll travel.

She already knows she’ll be heading to Guatemala in February to work for the spring. She’ll be detailing the San Bartolo murals, ancient drawings that date to 100 B.C. People who want to see her work can do so in March or April by picking up a copy of National Geographic magazine.

Through her reconstructions, Hurst revives ancient paintings and drawings of the pre-Columbian Americas.

Her recreation of the pre-Columbian Bonampak murals took two years to complete. The work was exhibited at Yale’s Peabody Museum and at the National Gallery of Art in Washington. One half-size mural spanned 30 feet.

Her earlier works also have been published in National Geographic and Arqueologia Mexicana.

Credit a couple of Mt. Blue teachers, says Hurst, for the inspiration that landed her such recognition.

Carol Perez, Hurst said, taught her Spanish, which in turn led her to her explorations of Latin America. And Roger Bisallion, she said, taught her art and encouraged her to expand her affinity for the visual arts.

Heather Hurst found out about the grant slightly ahead of her parents, Melissa and Dr. David Hurst, of Portland. They were just learning about it Monday night.

“We just found out about it less than an hour ago,” Melissa Hurst said about 8 p.m. “We haven’t really had a chance to absorb it yet.”

Although her parents have moved from Farmington to Portland, Heather Hurst’s memories of the school and community remain strong, she noted.

She also praised her Skidmore College teacher and adviser, Professor Susan Bender, who in turn called Hurst “a joy to work with.”

Hurst said that once she finishes detailing the San Bartolo murals, “I’ll see what I want to do.”

She may take a semester off from her studies, she said, “and explore my options.” She’s a second year student pursuing her Ph.D. in anthropology and archaeology at Yale University.

The pride felt by Hurst’s parents was not tempered by much concern, even knowing their daughter will head back to Latin America. They don’t fret much about her exposure to things like scorpions and snakes, giant spiders and bats.

“She’s been doing this sort of thing for several years,” Melissa Hurst said.

“She’s very capable,” said David Hurst. “She comes back with her own Indiana Jones stories. She’s worked really hard and she always makes the best of a situation.”

The fellowship financial award, Heather Hurst said, makes anything possible.

“To be independent and secure and be able to do anything is just such a gift,” she noted.

“It’s like a little angel on your shoulder telling you to go ahead, do what you want,” said Hurst.