SANTA MONICA : Student Quilt Reweaves Ethnic Harmony : Education: Latinos and African Americans take pride in working together on Samohi festival project.

By CAROL CHASTANG

April 30, 1995 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

The faces stare out in joy, serenity, sorrow, pride. They are painstakingly stitched in rich, colorful fabric and set amidst symbols of patriotism, history and hope.

Working in silent concentration, more than two dozen Santa Monica High School students spent three days creating self-portraits and impressions of loved ones for a quilt commissioned by organizers of the Santa Monica Festival--a two-week celebration of Latino and African American culture that ends today.

“These kids are so directed and motivated,” said Clara Wainwright, a Boston artist hired to help the students make the quilt, “they’ll work two hours without making a sound.”

Working alone, it would have taken Wainwright months to make such a quilt. But the student quilt, put together by nearly 30 pairs of hands, was completed in three days.

The colorful quilt, with ethnic harmony embodied in each stitch, will be on display all month beginning Monday at the Ken Edwards Community Center at 1527 4th St.

“In Memory of Selena,” a tribute to the slain Mexican American singer, was etched in heavy black ink next to a portrait of a beautiful woman clad in a red, orange and purple serape.

“I imagined her this way, like a simple Mexican woman, if she wasn’t a singer,” said Alejandro Gomez, 17. “I feel better now that I did this.”

Mediget Teshome, a striking 16-year-old Ethiopian, executed a self-portrait that reflects her pride in her African roots--the continent’s image filling the center of each eye. On the quilt’s burgundy border lay Ricardo Carrasco’s silhouette of a young man sitting on a cliff, a brilliant orange sunset in the background. “That’s me,” mused the 15-year-old, “kinda lost in the world.”

Festival producer Katie Bergin recruited the students for the quilt project. She sought out Wainwright after learning of the artist’s work with African American youngsters in Boston, directing them in quilt making at community centers.

“I’ve never been so excited about anything in my life,” said Jill Walsh, who paid Wainwright’s air fare to Los Angeles. The quilt, Walsh said, gives black and Latino students the opportunity to work together and allows them to express their “pride in where they came from.”

Seeing African American and Latino students coming together to create something meaningful was inspiring, said history teacher Emma Hipolito.

“There is so much tension between these two communities,” said Hipolito, who also helped recruit student quilt makers. “They don’t hang out together. A project like this creates a bond.”