By TOM FINK

Staff Writer

For nearly a week, 1st Bank customers have been treated to more than just easy banking — as the artwork of Claremore High School students has been on display in the bank’s lobby, giving customers a taste of the creativity of local youth.

For the remainder of the year, 1st Bank customers and amateur art enthusiasts will be able to see the handiwork of Susan Wong’s art students for themselves in the branch at Blue Starr and Lynn Riggs.

And few people who appreciate art more than Wong herself.

“The student’s ingenuity with this project really impressed me — they all did an outstanding job with it,” Wong said.

For the projects, Wong directed her students to “construct a building out of foam core, but in a manner to show planes or ‘flat surfaces’ as they are a fundamental element of art.”

“I usually try to get the kids to stretch their imaginations with my projects — to really put their problem-solving skills to use,” she said. “I told them it would have to be a sculpture using planes that was three-dimensional and show the interior — it couldn’t just be a box.

“I told them to imagine if Tim Burton or George Lucas had called and wanted ideas for their new movies — what would those ideas be,” she said. “Burton’s work is much more organic and Lucas’ work is more geometric in design, so it gave the students a lot to think about as they worked on their respective projects.”

Once completed, the students’ efforts were put on public display at 1st Bank.

“Normally, our students’ work is on display at the Performing Arts Center, but with the Christmas decorations, that wasn’t possible,” she said. “Fortunately, 1st Bank allowed us to showcase the student’s work for everyone to see.”

With roughly 50 sculptings submitted by her students, Wong said she would be rotating the items on display, to allow all submissions to be seen.

“There are some pretty inventive ones — they really surprised me,” she said. “The students all did well — I’m very proud of them all.”

Buildings range from the actual, such as the Empire State Building, to the more abstract, such as student Devon Matussak’s “hand building,” with hand-shaped walls.