STRAIGHT FROM THE ART INNER CITY CENTER PROVIDES FREE ARTS CLASSES THAT HELP CHILDREN FIND BEAUTY IN THE WORLD ... AND THEMSELVES.

Byline: Valerie Kuklenski Staff Writer

In the midst of sidewalk shelters and meat-packing warehouses east of downtown Los Angeles, something beautiful is happening.

Inner-City Arts is a stark white complex trimmed in colorfully primitive tiles made in its kilns by some of the thousands of Skid Row-area schoolchildren who take free classes there in painting, ceramics, music, dance and other disciplines.

``It's about creativity and whole lives, and the arts are just the tool,'' says Sharyn Church, director of development. ``If we can give the children that, they can go on and dream to be anything they want to be in life. The self-esteem and the sense of place and power -- and that they're valued -- is what we're about here.''

The nonprofit center near Seventh Street and Central Avenue is breaking ground next month on a theater, including costume and set shops and dressing rooms, thanks to a large gift from actress Monica Horan and her husband, ``Everybody Loves Raymond'' creator Phil Rosenthal. The ceramics studio will expand with more kilns, and the animation workspace will gain a sound studio and editing bays.

Inner-City Arts serves some 8,000 L.A. Unified School District children a year, most of them elementary students brought in by bus twice a week during the school day for seven-week sessions focusing on one area of performing or visual arts.

The organization, established in 1989, targets perhaps the neediest children in the city, serving schools in a 2 1/2-mile radius. Church says nearly all of them live at or below the poverty line, and a significant number are homeless. About 80 percent are English-language learners.

For all their hardships, they were enthusiastic last week as the term's classes drew to a close. Bob Fernandez engaged one group in conga drumming, while Edith Vargas' chorus warmed up for singing by dancing to a disco beat. Beth Harris set her little stocking-footed dancers out on the polished floor for ``locomotor'' movements.

In one visual arts studio, about 25 fourth-graders from Norwood Street Elementary sat quietly adding watercolors to mandalas they had drawn in black ink. Meditative Eastern music set the mood.

Benefits go beyond the art

``This is a very difficult group of children,'' their Norwood Elementary teacher, Trish Birk, said as she painted with them. ``They like to rush through everything. And I really think coming to Inner-City Arts and focusing on doing a good job on their art, something that's visual, shows them that when they take their time, what they produce is much better. And I think it's kind of falling over into their regular work.''

Birk is experiencing what research on 3,000 Inner-City Arts students has shown: Children who make art and perform music and theater improve their skills and comprehension in math, reading, writing and other fields of study.

Jan Kirsch, the director of professional development, was leading 25 graduate students from UCLA's teacher certification program in making three-dimensional paper sculptures, leaving them free to make artistic choices but at the same time talking them through the mechanics of prepping a classroom for a project, involving parent volunteers and planning for an organized cleanup.

She also trains teachers and student teachers in leading their kids' constructive critique discussions.

``It gets (kids) talking about the art, which for English learners is very, very powerful because they created the art, so they're excited to talk about it,'' Kirsch said. ``Their vocabulary builds, and their desire to speak builds.

``And what we've heard from teachers here is the language just explodes because the kids are so engaged in what they're doing -- and they're excited about communicating about it.''

Many of today's young teachers didn't have art instruction themselves in grade school, so they don't have a personal understanding of its value to the learning process, nor do they know a wide range of age-appropriate projects.

``So we get them into it and then also talk about how to integrate this into language arts, math, social studies and science because it brings alive all those other subjects for the students,'' Kirsch said.

Where it all began

Bob Bates, Inner-City Arts' co-founder and artistic director, made a career as an artist despite a rather rocky start in grade school in the Midwest.

In kindergarten, he said, he and his classmates made chunky, lumpy little sculptures with glass jars, plaster of Paris and shiny stones. ``The teacher didn't even care enough to give me mine back. She gave me somebody else's,'' he said. ``And on the way home, I just threw it away.''

Teachers at Inner-City Arts take care to see that each student gets his own work to take home, with the exception of a handful of pieces put on display in the gallery. Some sculptures have served as centerpieces at the annual fund-raising gala, and other works have been shown in various museums.

The organization's brochures talk of its origins springing from a desire to fill a void in public education left by Proposition 13-related budget cuts.

Why it's significant

``But the picture that I got was that art is really important,'' Bates said. ``It's one of the things that is really manifest for a complete human being. You've got to take math, you've got to take science, you've got to have all these things. Take any of those out, and you have an incomplete human.''

Inner-City Arts offers a Saturday animation workshop for high-school students who work for an entire school year on a feature film under the instruction of CalArts teachers and graduates, and its weekend programs for middle-school students and teachers are expected to expand to involve even more students.

For now, Birk, the fourth-grade teacher, is grateful for the programs she and her students enjoy.

``It's really helped me become a better art teacher for the students, because we're the only art teacher they've got, and teachers don't get training on how to teach art.

``This is one of the most valuable programs these children will ever experience.''

In creating, running and growing Inner-City Arts, Bates finds inspiration in Albert Einstein's famous view that imagination is more important than knowledge.

``The place is all about creativity, more than art,'' he said. ``Everything we do, whether it's dancing or making music, it's stimulating that part of yourself that is so important for problem-solving and critical thinking.

``I think we change the lives of kids. And I know it changes all of our lives who work here.''

For more information about Inner-City Arts, including volunteer opportunities and donations, call [phone] or go to www.inner-cityarts.org.

Valerie Kuklenski, [phone]

valerie.kuklenski(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

7 photos

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) Child's play 

Inner-City Arts nurture's students' talent, self-esteem

(2 -- color) Paintings by the children who take classes at the Inner-City Arts complex adorn the walls. ``The self-esteem and the sense of place and power -- and that they're valued -- is what we're about here, '' said Sharyn Church, director of development.

(3 -- color) The center serves 8,000 LAUSD children a year. Most participants live at or below the poverty line; a significant number are homeless.

(4 -- color) Schoolchildren are bused in twice a week for seven-week sessions focusing on one area of performing or visual arts.

(5 -- color) A student puts the finishing touches on a watercolor painting during an Inner-City Arts class. ``This is one of the most valuable programs these children will ever experience,'' says Norwood Elementary teacher Trish Birk.

(6 -- 7 -- color) Children participate in conga drumming, top, as another group dances with a teacher, above.

John McCoy/Staff Photographer