OXFORD – The Oxford Community Youth Center (OCYC) and After School Program (ASP) gave Oxford Middle School students a chance to be creative under the guidance of the well-known, children’s book author and illustrator, Suzanne Bloom. The results of their sessions were on display at a multi-media art reception held on Nov. 16, in Kim Begeal’s, The Blue Lamp, a creative space and gallery in Oxford.

 Suzanne Bloom, who just released her latest book, Feeding Friendsies (published by Boyds Mills Press) loves to write stories, however, she says, “…drawing the pictures is like dessert.” The OCYC kids got to spend five sessions with Suzanne who shared her love of creating art with them by encouraging their self-expression and exposing them to new artistic techniques using tempera paint and other art supplies which included lots of glitter!

The five art sessions involved first- painting irregular shapes on a grid, a lesson in pattern making; second- creating name tags of any size or shape filling them with color, making a personal statement; third- they made (blank) journals, the craft of bookmaking; fourth- creating an image on one-side of a paper and writing on the reverse; and fifth- they created folded paper monoprint images, that look something like Rorschach inkblots. These fun classes allowed the Oxford youth -of all artistic abilities- to explore their creative sides, under no pressure, and gave them lots of freedom to express themselves. The art show at The Blue Lamp was a very festive event with refreshments, parents and the “artists.”