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The children who attend school at Pasadena’s Villa Esperanza Services spent six weeks working on a very special art assignment. As part of an art therapy project funded by the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Foundation and the Rowe and Gayle Giesen Trust, artists Tina Staples, Adam Chase and Jonna Ivan helped special-needs explore the world of art. And judging by the current exhibition of the work on display at the Armory Center for the Arts, the program was a rousing, colorful and exhilarating success. Using acrylic paint, pastels, and a mélange of fabric, paper, wood, plastic and glass, the children created an expressive body of work, 52 pieces of art in all. Also on display at the Armory is a video showing the art in progress, filmed and edited by Chris Staples who works at Cartoon Network in Burbank. A second showing of the children’s artwork is planned this summer at the Cartoon Network Studio. Many of the children have difficulty in expressing themselves verbally, said Leonora Barron, who is director of the Villa Esperanza Services’ children and youth programs. “So the arts programs offer them a mode of communicating, a way for the children to express themselves, particularly when they are non-verbal. Art has given them a personal sense of self-satisfaction and worth. The kids want to communicate, to show the world, ‘look, I am a viable part of society.’ “People shy away from our clients,” she continued, “and this is a way to let them know what the kids are feeling and who they are.” So last fall, when funds were secured, Tina Staples took the lead in organizing the big paint out. “I dedicated myself to the program for a year,” said Staples, who studied music therapy at Cal State in Northridge. “I do music, art and dance, any kind of media that will work in an environment for the children, giving them a non-judgmental way of expressing the way they are seeing the world. The project was about the process, not the art.” Yet the art is good and worth a trip to the Armory. In fact, because of the success of the art program, said Barron, in the next few months 40 children will be able to participate in another art paint-out on the Villa Street school campus. A future exhibition of that series of paintings is planned, as well. All of this, continued Barron, is part of the on-going agenda at Villa Esperanza Services. In addition to offering care and education for children, adults and seniors with developmental disabilities, this 43-year-old service and education facility works to integrate their clients into the community at large. And into the public school system, when applicable. But transition plans do not always work out, and placing special-needs students into transitional schools has been an on-going problem, a problem that the staff, headed by chief executive officer Dottie Cebula Nelson, is working to remedy. So, in response to pleas from parents and staff, Villa Esperanza will initiate a high school program starting next fall. One classroom for seven students will be added to an already burgeoning school campus, and more high school classes are planned for the future. On-going service projects will continue to strive to meet the needs of children and adults with developmental disabilities, said Barron, as well as programs for vulnerable, at-risk adults and seniors. Pricilla Fleming Vayda is a free-lance writer based in Los Angeles. Write to her in care of the San Gabriel Valley Newspapers, Features Department, 1210 N. Azusa Canyon Road, West Covina, CA 91790, or by e-mail at priscilla.vayda@worldnet.att.net. |
