OCEANSIDE — It’s Now it’s Wow art show and fundraiser will feature the best of student created artwork and will be held at the Oceanside Museum of Art Sept. 22.
“Any one of these pieces could hang at a gallery,” Rhiannon Riecke, North County Lifeline youth service supervisor, said.
The fundraiser was thought up by North County Lifeline students who wanted to raise money to support the after-school program. It was first held three years ago and continues to be an annual student-run activity.
“The kids are motivated to raise money and help support their own program,” Donald Stump, executive director of North County Lifeline, said. “It’s their idea to sell their own artwork.”
This is the first year the art show and fundraiser will be held at the museum.
Fifty pieces of student-made paintings, mosaic works and pottery will be on display and auctioned off.
The art show has the loose theme of Our World Our Art. The theme is broad enough to allow students to express their interests, what they value and their experiences.
“They created painting of things they care about in life,” Stump said. “The ideas are directly from the kids. It’s their world and what appeals to them.”
Fourteen students who range in age from 9 to 18 created the artwork that is up for auction. It took six months to complete the pieces.
Students attend the after-school program held at the Crown Heights Community Center.
“Twenty-five feet outside our gate is a very hard neighborhood,” Riecke said.
“The Crown Heights community had a lot of challenges and some violence last year,” Stump said.
“Art is critically important.”
Art is taught as an enrichment activity during the after-school program that includes homework help, life skills, peer mediation training and recreation.
Students also work with staff to plan community service projects.
“The program empowers youth to make decisions, grow and develop,” Stump said.
The art show and fundraiser will include music by jazz duo Nathan Rivera and Ryan Dart and a live spray-painting demonstration by artist Clasck.
There will also be a silent auction and raffle.
Last year the art auction raised $7,000 and the total event raised $20,000 for the North County Lifeline after-school program.
The community-based program helps 250 kids ages 6 to 17 annually.
