The Oxford Hookah Lounge, a supporter of the arts in the Oxford community, found a new way to show its appreciation with the opening of its new art gallery on Saturday. The lounge featured a wide variety of artwork created by studio art majors at Miami University. This was not just a one-time event, however; gallery will remain open to encourage a greater appreciation for the arts.

“We just wanted to create another venue for students to showcase their talents,” general manager Kevin Bjerre said.

Bjerre said he feels the students in the Department of Art deserve more recognition for their work and wants to encourage students to come and see what local artists have to offer. He also expressed his intent to allow all up-and-coming artists to have a chance to show off their art.

“The selection process is pretty easy,” Bjerre said. “If it’s framed and ready, we’ll hang it up.”

The Oxford Hookah Lounge was abuzz Saturday night for the opening, with several of the artists present to talk about their work. Sophomore Tadar “Tek” Muhammad, a studio art major at Miami whose work was on display, explained some of the ideas and techniques behind his work. He paints as a way to convey strong messages to the general public through abstract art and gets much of his inspiration from art that he finds on the Internet.

“I’ve heard it said that ‘the best artists steal,’” Muhammad said. “I just want to bounce my ideas off of other artists and create my own style.”

Muhammad described the gallery opening as a chill and laid back atmosphere, noting it provided a great opportunity to meet people and discuss art.

“People should definitely come up to the lounge to check it out,” he said. “It’s a great environment with all types of events and it gives you something to do.”

In addition to events like the gallery opening, the lounge offers weekly programming as well. Monday nights are movie nights during which participants vote for and watch three movies throughout the night. On Wednesday nights local musicians perform live sets.

“We just wanted to be a place where everyone can come and hang out, especially if they’re not partiers or drinkers,” Bjerre said. “The new gallery also adds a great way to appreciate art.”

The Oxford Hookah Lounge is located at 15 N. Beech St. in the alley across from the Princess 4 movie theater and is open Monday through Saturday.