Work of 5 Street Artists at Weingart Center Cafe : Art: Thirty works are on display. Prices range from $100 to $800.

Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions isn’t the only program helping homeless artists these days. As part of “Visions”--one of the largest Skid Row arts programs--the works of five homeless artists are on view through June 30 at the downtown Weingart Center Cafe.

Included in the exhibition, “Visions From the Street,” which was funded through a $5,000 grant from the J. Paul Getty Trust Fund for the Visual Arts, are more than 30 works, including many that curator Dorothy J. Koppy says are “commercially competitive” with works made by artists in much more stable environments.

“It’s amazing. These artists do works in conditions that would just make you and I throw our hands up in the air and give up,” said Koppy, who is herself an artist.

Koppy said she found the five artists in the show through various means, including word of mouth around the streets. Henry Brown III, who does tribal-inspired art in watercolor and pencil--was a “star student” in an art class she taught recently at the Weingart Center, and Frank Parker she knew because he had once sold her some of his works on the street. Also in the show are photographer Nelson Clark, multimedia artist Flo Hawkins and painter Ron Thomas.

But curating the show was difficult, Koppy said, noting that even on the day before the show’s opening, she was having difficulty contacting some of the artists. In addition, she noted, since many Skid Row artists either cannot store their works or must sell them immediately in order to survive, it was hard to find artists who had a supply of work.

Koppy noted that the opportunity for a homeless artist to be included in a show was “rare,” and especially so in this instance because the artists will receive small fees for their participation. In addition, the artists hope to sell some of their works, which will be priced from about $100-$800, Koppy said.

A reception for the “Visions From the Street” artists will be held at the Weingart Center Cafe at 7 p.m. on June 14. Included will be poetry readings by members of the Homeless Writers Coalition, as well as performances by homeless singers, musicians and actors.