The paintings, collages and drawings have all been chosen as winners in the Moments that Matter art competition launched by the hospice and Oikos Café in February.
Children aged up to 11 were invited to enter pictures of their special moments with the finalists all being included in the exhibition at the Erdington High Street Cafe. From the finalists, judges will award first, second and third prizes to be announced at a special evening event on 17 May.
More than 140 pictures were entered for the competition from children and schools across the city – and judges were hugely impressed.
John Taylor Hospice Head of Community Engagement Mark Jones, one of the judging panel, said: “The standard of artwork created by the children was incredibly high. We would have loved to include every picture in our exhibition but in the end we whittled it down to around 30.
“From these we will pick the first, second and third prize-winners – who will be announced during a special evening at Oikos Café on 17 May.
“What was particularly interesting was that when we asked children to recreate their most special moment nearly all chose to picture their families, friends and special occasions with loved ones.
“At John Taylor Hospice we believe in making every moment matter and it was really lovely to see that for local children, these favourite moments are all about being with people they love.”
The pictures are installed in Oikos Café on Erdington High Street during the month of May. On Friday 17 May the café hosts the monthly Evening of Creativity, organised by Erdington Café Arts, at which the winners will be announced. The Evening of Creativity, which takes place between 6-9pm will also feature creative activities and music.
Oikos Centre Manager Ben Jeffery said: “Oikos is a part of our local community and hosting an exhibition like this, featuring artwork by local children, is a brilliant way to promote that local community. We hope that visitors to our café during May will enjoy seeing the wonderful pictures the children have created.”
John Taylor Hospice and Oikos Café have organised the Moments that Matter competition as part of Birmingham’s A Matter of Life and Death festival held during May as part of Dying Matters Awareness Week. Organised by community interest company BrumYODO, the festival aims to use the arts and culture to encourage open and honest conversations about death and dying. For more on the festival click on brumyodo.org.uk
If you’d like to see the pictures, please pop into Oikos Café during May and we’ve also shared them on our Facebook page.