CHATSWORTH : Art Provides an Outlet for Abused Kids

A strange silence prevailed over a group of about 15 children and teen-agers who gathered within the concrete walls of a Chatsworth warehouse Wednesday.

No one had asked them to be quiet. The hush was a byproduct of intense concentration as the youths, many from abusive homes or probation camps, applied blobs of acrylic paint to paper and ceramic tiles.

The children, residents of the Mid-Valley Youth Center in Van Nuys, were taking part in an afternoon art workshop at Heartworld, a new nonprofit art program for abused children run by Anne Nathan-Wlodarski, a Calabasas collage artist.

The children were told to copy magazine pictures. But most produced abstract designs. One covered his whole tile with red paint. Another boy sat staring worriedly at his blank tile as his cohorts worked busily around him.

Nathan-Wlodarski, who has worked as a volunteer with abused children, said she began the program because she wanted to give such children a place to exhibit their work after producing it. “Kids like to see their art displayed,” she said.

“Art is a good medium for kids to ventilate their feelings,” said Peggy Jordan, clinical director of the youth center. “A lot of times children can’t articulate what’s going on with them. This takes it from inside and puts it outside.”

The Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department awarded Nathan-Wlodarski a lease worth about $36,350 earlier this year to start the program. The lease was negotiated with Jonathan Cookler of Canoga DevCo., builder of the warehouse complex at 9609 Canoga Ave. Under an ordinance approved in 1991, developers must donate up to 1% of their construction costs in money or in-kind services for public art programs, said Barbara Goldstein, director of design, review and cultural planning for the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department.

The Heartworld warehouse is about the size of a high school gym. Nathan-Wlodarski said the space is just right for a gallery, workshop, and the dance stage that she hopes to build along one wall. But because her lease on the warehouse ends in August, Nathan-Wlodarski fears that the program may be short-lived.

So far, she has raised only about $1,500 to keep the program going, not enough to pay even one month’s rent on the warehouse, she said. Cookler has offered Nathan-Wlodarski a break on the rent, but said he can’t afford to donate the space permanently.

In the meantime, Nathan-Wlodarski is shopping for a new space and hopes to open her first exhibit of children’s art this summer in Chatsworth.