Beata Lieders says about a month before her son died she knew his time was short. Lieders says it was a mother’s intuition. Her son Blake was on the run when he died in a 2012 drowning accident at age 16. A year before the tragedy Lieders created an Open Art Studio program for kids to gather in a safe place and use art as a positive outlet. ‘He (Blake) didn’t take art at school. He needed something that was not so structured, ” Lieders told WFDL news. “He was very artistic so I started a program after school with him in mind and his friends.” Lieders said she wanted to stay focused on at-risk teens because her son had issues. “He was in juvenile detention on and off . Kids make mistakes and so I wanted to help those kids.” The program offers free of charge weekly art programs to teens and young adults and with a $10,000 Impact grant through the Fond du lac Elk’s Club started the Open Arts Studios at Marian University. The program also reaches out to youth in the Fond du Lac County Juvenile Detention facility. Monday would have been Blake’s 19th birthday. Lieders is asking Fond du Lac area residents to pay it forward with an act of kindness toward another person this week in her son’s memory.
