ART INSTRUCTOR Suzanne Owens is hard to spot. Her paint-covered apron blends into the other colors in her Severna Park Elementary School classroom like the figures in a bold design by Matisse.
She spends two days a week at Severna Park helping her pupils discover their artistic talents. The rest of the week, the educator - who has been teaching art so long she quit counting at year 25 - can be found in the county Board of Education art resource office. Here, she and her partner draw up plans to collect student artwork and install it in art exhibits at county malls, schools and libraries. They also hold receptions for the young artists.
During the summer, Owens directs Art Trek, a summer art program at Arlington Echo, a residential camp on the Severn River. With a teaching staff of 10, the annual program attracts around 120 students, she says.
Severna Park Elementary pupils, fellow teachers and Principal Patricia Price are not the only ones to appreciate Owens' contributions. The National Art Education Association has named her the 2003 winner of the Eastern Region Art Educator award. She'll receive the honor at the association's conference in Minneapolis in April.
As a county art resource teacher, Owens says that her favorite job is mentoring new teachers.
"The part I enjoy is giving the new teachers tips for teaching strategies and classroom management," she says. Her best advice for beginning instructors is to be patient, enthusiastic and to "break things down" - doing an assignment very slowly themselves - before having their students try it.
The lifelong county resident earned a bachelor's degree in art education from Hood College in Frederick and a master's degree in art education from what is now Towson University.
She and her husband, Thomas, have two daughters, Laura, 21, and Elaine, 18.
When she graduated from college, Owens planned to teach high school, but the only opening was in elementary school. Teaching younger children turned out to be "a joy and a delight," she says.
Owens says she loves it when she sees that "light bulb go off" in a child's head.
"What I find to be most exciting," she says, "is giving students the opportunity to show their thoughts and ideas on paper and being able to communicate those ideas to others. They are able to express what they want to say in images and not just words."
Annual tree lighting
The annual Severna Park Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony will take place at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow at the Chamber of Commerce building at 1 Holly Ave. Bagpipe music by Michael Binnie at 5 p.m. and songs by the Severna Park Elementary School Chorus at 5:20 p.m. will precede the lighting, followed by community caroling led by Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church.
Afterward, refreshments will be available in the chamber's community meeting room, and the Severna Park Model Railroad Club display next door will be open until 6:30 p.m.
Visitors are invited to park at Severn School.
Four-part harmonies
The Chorus of the Chesapeake and PHILHARMONIX will perform at 8 p.m. Dec. 13 at Severna Park High School.
Sponsored by the Anne Arundel Community Concert Association, the chorus is a 150-member men's a cappella group that sings barbershop-style four-part harmony. Based in Baltimore, the chorus has twice won gold medals in international competition.
The award-winning PHILHARMONIX, from Philadelphia, is a mixed quartet singing in Sweet Adeline-style harmony and melody.
Tickets - $15 for adults and $5 for students - will be available at the door and by season subscription. For more information, call 410-647-6873 or 410-647-4881.
Cookie sale
The Severna Park High School Marching Band's annual homemade holiday cookie sale will be Dec. 13 at the Giant and Safeway food stores in Severna Park. The sale begins at 9 a.m. and lasts until the cookies are gone, which happens quickly.
Cookies, at $6 a box, may be ordered in advance by calling Janet Ticconi at 410-384-9430 or Dawn Knebel at 410-518-9939.