Portraits of Hope : Museum Exhibit Gives At-Risk Students a Place to Show Their Works and a Chance to Feel the Pride of Recognition

An exhibition hall in the California African American Museum at Exposition Park is bursting with vibrant colors: fanciful papier-mache dragons and chupacabras, deeply hued oil paintings and frenetic multimedia collages.

These passionate pieces aren’t the work of renowned artists--rather, the creators are students in the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Senior High School Options program, some of the highest-risk youths in the district.

The annual art exhibit is one of the biggest events of the year for Options students. This year marks the first time the artwork is on display at the museum, where it will be shown through May 22. In the past, the art was displayed in Arco Plaza’s downtown subterranean gallery.

“We thought it would it be neat to be in a real museum,” said Sheridan Cole, exhibit coordinator. “They just feel really proud to come in and see their work exhibited here.”

About 100 students contributed to the 23rd annual exhibit. Many have been expelled from their former campuses for gang activity, drug use or arrests. Others attend programs for pregnant mothers or opportunity schools offered as an alternative to traditional campuses.

Teachers in the Options program said the art project gives students on the cusp of expulsion a sense of pride and empowerment.

“I think they’re pretty thrilled and surprised,” said Peter Puhvel, a teacher at the Marengo campus in Boyle Heights. “The perception of kids who have been expelled is that they’re hoodlums or dangerous . . . but these are really great kids and this program brings out the best in them.”

The artwork on display goes far beyond basic watercolor paintings.

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Puhvel’s students spent the last few months building a full-size puppet theater and five puppets decorated in Aztec costumes. They each chose a character from an ancient Aztec myth, created the puppet and wrote the dialogue for the story.

“It was cool,” said Julia Sentara, 14. “We felt like a big family--we were all working together.”

Puhvel, like other teachers, pulled off the art project with virtually no resources. He scoured the garment district for scraps of fabric and used old boxes to build the theater.

Next to the puppet theater is a model of the area around Exposition Park revamped with new buildings and landscaping. The intricate model was built by students at Central High with the guidance of architects.

They tramped along a vacant area near railroad tracks, envisioned what they would like to see in the community and created a model complete with a sunken garden, day-care center, senior citizen housing and a library.

“We used our imagination,” said Angie Palma, 17.

On Thursday, the students watched in awe as museum visitors filed by the model, carefully inspecting their work. “It’s cool that people like it,” said Jesus Amaya, 18. “It’d be great if we could get people to build this.”

The rest of the exhibition hall is filled with unique and creative pieces crafted with the care of first-time artists. A computer-generated piece shows a self-portrait transformed into wild contortions. Woven baskets fill one display case; fluid plaster sculptures are showcased in another.

For some, seeing their work on display ignited new feelings.

“I feel like an artist,” Tony Le Sage, 14, said.

The art, teachers say, allows students to express deeply held emotions they rarely speak about.

“These students have a high degree of creativity,” Cole said. “A lot of these kids have been left out in the cold. But you can see there’s a lot of talent in this room.”

The exhibit has drawn the attention of professional artists who visit the museum. On Thursday, student Steven Young learned one artist was captivated by the black mask with swaths of bright color he painted in his class.

Steven beamed when he heard that the artist wanted to buy his piece. “I’m so happy,” said the soft-spoken 14-year-old, who attends school at the African American Unity campus in South-Central Los Angeles. “I can’t wait to tell my mom.” Now, he added, he wants to do more art.

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“The biggest thing is that a lot of these kids come in with less confidence than others and a lot of fear,” said his teacher, Clinton Woods. Getting recognized for their work helps eradicate those fears, Woods said.

Even those who have dabbled in the arts before relished the chance to show off their work.

Michael Brown has been scribbling and sketching since he was 10, but the Options art exhibit gives him a forum he says he usually doesn’t have.

He watched with pride as visitors examined his oil pastel rendering of a witch with outstretched arms in an explosion of colors.

“It allows me to express what I’m feeling inside, get it out on paper and show everybody,” said Brown, 18, a student at Central High’s Indian Center campus.

Nearby hangs April Choi’s painting “Art Is.” With careful and colorful writing, the Walt Whitman student inscribed what many students said they felt about participating in the exhibit:

“Art is working on something till you like it--then leaving it. Art helps fill the void. Art is one of the few things left worth doing. . . . When it is real, art can heal.”

The exhibit is free and open to the public 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through May 22. The California African American Museum is located at 600 State Drive in Exposition Park. The museum is closed on Mondays.