BEYOND BARS INMATES' ARTWORK TO BENEFIT FOUNDATION.

Byline: Peggy Hager Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Lancaster state prison inmates' artwork is among pieces that will be auctioned at a dinner and art sale to benefit The Catalyst Foundation.

Forty-five acrylic paintings by inmates in the California State Prison- Los Angeles County's Arts in Corrections program include depictions of children playing, wolf cubs, an iris, soldiers, and an Andy Warhol reproduction.

``I peered in through the window and my jaw dropped; I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It was so amazing,'' Catalyst Foundation staffer Dave Mashore said of seeing the inmates' work on a visit to the prison.

Also for sale will be oil paintings by New Orleans artist Rene Ragi and photographs combined with famous quotes by photographer Emerson Matabele of Georgia.

The art will be on display through Feb. 13 at the Downtown Bistro, 858 W. Lancaster Blvd. The art exhibit is a prelude to a Feb. 13 Valentine's gourmet dinner at the bistro to benefit The Catalyst Foundation, which provides free medical care and other services to people who have AIDS or are HIV-positive and to people with hepatitis C.

The foundation's Creating a Healthy Society program tries to help prison inmates and others understand their self-destructive or antisocial actions and to change their behavior.

Dr. Susan Lawrence created the foundation in 1993, when county officials said there were 61 recorded AIDS cases in the Antelope Valley.

For years the foundation has provided AIDS education and mentoring to teens incarcerated in juvenile probation camps. It began making weekly presentations last year to Lancaster prison inmates on the Healthy Society program.

``We have people who come week after week after week to see basically the same program and ... we apologize to them because we don't have any new material and they're like, we get something different out of it every time we come,'' Lawrence said.

Lawrence hopes to raise $10,000 from the Feb. 13 benefit.

Mashore is hoping to turn the benefit into a regular art festival by its third year.

``I hope to bring awareness (to what) Catalyst provides to the community and we hope to bring a great event to enhance our community, something enjoyable,'' said Mashore.

Downtown Bistro owners Margarita and Tony Ferrer donated the use of the restaurant for the benefit. Dinner is $40 for adults and $12.50 for children under age 11. Dinner hours on Feb. 13 are 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Entertainment will be provided by Bob Sobo. Free wine tasting will be provided by Antelope Valley Winery.

The final bidding in the silent auction for the inmates' works will be accepted at 9 p.m. Feb. 13.

For more information call The Catalyst Foundation at [phone] or the Downtown Bistro at [phone].

Peggy Hager, [phone]

peggy.grimm-hager(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

(1 -- color) Lynda Williams, Deborah Mashore and Richard Triplett, from left, preview artwork by county state prison inmates.

(2 -- 3 -- color) An oil painting titled ``Wolf Cubs'' by Rick Martin, above, and an acrylic by J. Hoefling titled ``Small Mouth,'' right, are among the pieces to be auctioned for The Catalyst Foundation.