Loren Hart, center, provided inspiration for the Children’s Museum’s new mascot, with her artwork of a bear in blue overalls. With her are her parents, Jennifer Lee and Len Hart, and her sister Matti. (Submitted photo)
The Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge has a new mascot.
The newest addition to the Children’s Museum was recently unveiled at its annual Holiday Gala. As supporters gathered to celebrate the holidays, Board President Tom Beehan, Executive Director Beth Shea, and Marketing Chair Gene Patterson introduced the crowd to Charlie the Curious Bear, the museum’s new mascot.
The image of the cuddly brown bear, with expressive eyes, wearing blue bib overalls and cap, was inspired by student Loren Hart, who took part in an art competition in the Oak Ridge Schools to create the museum’s new mascot.
“With help from art teacher Jim Dodson, we got the school system’s art teachers together earlier this year and told them that we wanted to create an image for the museum that children would love,” Beehan said. “Who better than the kids themselves to create that image? So the teachers got their students involved and before you know it, we had dozens of entries for Charlie.”
“We had turtles and owls and raccoons and cats vying to be Charlie,” Shea said. “But in the end, our board loved the image of the bear and his blue overalls. After that we turned to Barry Armstrong, a graphic artist, who turned the artwork into our finished mascot.”
Loren, the daughter of Len Hart and Jennifer Lee, is a seventh grader at Jefferson Middle School. CMOR’s board selected Loren’s artwork after reviewing the dozens of works that were submitted.
“It was a tough choice because there were several outstanding candidates,” Patterson said. “In the end, we felt Loren’s bear had that just right quality of friendliness and curiosity that we feel is part of the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge experience.”
This story and photos were submitted by Kay Brookshire.
Charlie the Curious Bear, a cuddly brown bear in blue overalls, is the new mascot of the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge. (Submitted photo)
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