ARTS FOR AMATEURS : Students Make Light of Their Class Projects--Because They’re Supposed to

For a moment, as the bright lights in Room 18 of the Learning Tree University were shut off, four adult students in this Chatsworth classroom were subtly mesmerized by the electric rainbow shining upon their faces. It was the same cool glow that first attracted them to this class with the desire to learn neon light design and production.

Spread across a table in front of student Barbara Bongiovanni was a carefully sketched diagram of the large eagle-shaped neon art display she hoped to create in honor of her prized ’62 T-Bird. Others had brought in their supplies of neon light tubing, long glass stems leaning in tight bunches against a corner wall, assorted electrical gadgetry and sculpted glass. And now instructor Ross Waldberg was gesturing to the faintly humming neon light display behind him, discussing the various differences in colors and shades in the 60 or more rows of light.

Outside this small classroom, Waldberg spends his daylight hours in his Los Angeles workshop creating neon signs and artwork for architects, businesses and collectors. But for more than six months, he’s been teaching the art of neon design at the Learning Tree, guiding students through all the steps leading up to, and just short of, the glass-blowing work that shapes the neon tubing itself.

The eight-week Thursday evening course--which begins another session Jan. 17 at a cost of $295 per student--is an introductory overview of the processes used in creating the neon artwork. By the end of a recent course, one student had designed and built a dragon-shaped sign and mounted it to the door of his hot-rod. Underneath, it read: “Let’s go dragon!”

That creation was likely influenced by Waldberg’s own work, which utilizes sculptured glass and other media in the final design. The teacher said he encourages this broader view of neon art among his students.

“I’m always experimenting with new things, and that’s kind of how I run my class,” Waldberg said. “Sometimes people tend to use what they’re familiar with. And there are people that do some specific kind of artwork, painting or sculpture or whatever. They want to add in neon light to their sculptures.”

One such melding of neon light and other media, specifically a large photograph of Marilyn Monroe with wisps of neon rising from her perfume bottle, caught John Giacopuzzi’s attention in a Melrose Avenue shop. He bought the framed, poster-sized image, but soon grew more intrigued with the workings of the strange glowing lights mounted to its surface. When a co-worker mentioned reading about the Learning Tree course in a school catalogue, Giacopuzzi quickly signed up, even though the 40-year-old Teamster had never before expressed himself in painting, sculpture or any other arts.

Giacopuzzi’s first design, when constructed, will follow an abstract geometrical idea that incorporates glass squares and three tubes of colorful neon. He’s also talking of creating more works to decorate his West Hills home.

“I don’t plan on doing it commercially,” he said. “But I plan on doing it a lot for my own satisfaction.”

At the beginning of every term, Waldberg explains to new students that the limitations of a two-month-long course cannot realistically include any significant instruction in glass-bending. A professional level of competency in shaping the glass tubing typically comes only after working at it for as long as nine months in an apprenticeship, he said, adding that he’s heard of fees as high as $6,000 for an intensive six-week glass-blowing course.

Nonetheless, Waldberg includes a field trip to his own shop for a glass-preparing demonstration. During one recent visit, Giacopuzzi attempted it himself.

“When I first started the class, I had in my mind that I’d be able to do everything myself,” Giacopuzzi said. “But you learn it’s not possible in a short class like this. When we went to his workshop, I learned how to bend the glass. But I could tell that it would take months of practice.”

Short of that complicated procedure, students in the course are instructed in how to perform every step up to, and just after, the glass-blowing. At one class meeting late in the term, Waldberg demonstrated such integral steps as wiring, mounting, drilling and plate-glass cutting. He also looked over students’ full-scale diagrams, offering suggestions to make the sculptures more attractive and efficient.

Waldberg said that after taking the course, students could save more than 50% of what it would cost for a professional neon sign maker to create a work from scratch.

For her large T-Bird design, Bongiovanni would likely have to pay about $800. But by doing much of the work herself, she’ll instead spend closer to $350 for materials and glass-bending expenses.

Most of the students, Waldberg said, work regular jobs during the day or are busy homemakers, leaving a limited number of spare hours to work on their projects.

Until two years ago, Waldberg worked as a lighting consultant. But he has devoted himself to neon art full time since a severe bicycle accident in 1988, which cost him his job and required two months of recovery. Since then, he has built a series of neon signs and logos while working on his own light-based artwork. He talks of it proudly as “one of the last crafts available that is still all hands-on work.”

Neon art, he said, is becoming more appreciated. Recently, a film set designer rented a pair of works from Waldberg’s collection for use in the new Steve Martin movie, “L. A. Story.”

Most of his students are motivated by more modest goals. Bongiovanni was happy enough deifying her beloved Thunderbird in a way few could ignore. After the huge eagle neon sculpture is completed, she said she has plans to build a neon re-creation of the car’s letter logo in bright neon-red.

“I just love the colors; it’s so intense,” said Bongiovanni, 34, of Studio City. “I expect to plug this in and everyone will be able to see the house for three miles around.”

“Neon Art: Design and Production,” a Thursday evening course offered by the Learning Tree University, 20916 Knapp St., Chatsworth, begins Jan. 17. Tuition is $295. For information, call (818) 882-5599.