ART : FOR THE KIDS : Renaissance Children : A chain of private studios offers basic instruction in the fine arts that youngsters may not receive in traditional schools.

On a warm day in Encino, an afternoon in which you’d expect to see a 10-year-old riding his bicycle or tossing a football with friends, Ariel Adams sat in an art studio, calmly preparing to copy a Manet painting of a vase with flowers as Mozart played from a nearby stereo.

“Art is something I’ve always been interested in,” he said. “I’ve always been good at drawing and painting, and I wanted to learn more about art. I’ve been taking classes now for two months and they’ve improved my skills.”

But just when you think Ariel is mature well beyond his years, he shows off his supplies, including a flat fan brush. “When paint is on it, I think it looks like a Mohawk,” he said with a laugh.

Kids will be kids, but at least some people believe that if a child has even the slightest interest in art, he or she can be taught to draw and paint well.

Mission: Renaissance, a private art school with studios in Encino, West Hills, Studio City, Glendale, as well as West Los Angeles and Pacific Palisades, specializes in teaching the basics of fine art to adults and children. Sheila Gluck, who runs the school along with her husband, artist Larry Gluck, says you don’t have to have talent to learn to paint and draw.

“These are teachable, learnable skills just like reading and writing. Years ago, as part of a formal education you had to know how to play an instrument, write a short story and draw and paint. We’ve gotten away from an emphasis on art skills, especially with the cutbacks in our public schools. Here, children are able to get the basics of art, which they may not get elsewhere.”

The Glucks began their school in 1975 at their home in the Mt. Washington area. They moved to Los Angeles in 1971, after spending 10 years in the Virgin Islands where Larry became a well-known watercolorist. Larry continued to paint in Los Angeles, but became alarmed by the way art education was treated. “He wanted to show how there was a need to return to basics, and he wanted to share what he had learned,” said Sheila. They named their classes Mission: Renaissance to symbolize the need for a return to the fundamentals in art training.

While teaching small groups of adults the basics of working with paintbrushes and canvas, the Glucks were asked about starting classes for children. “In 1984, we had a studio in Hollywood and felt we had enough room to have the children’s classes,” Sheila said. “We weren’t sure just how children would take to lessons in fine art, but I now believe they’re the best students. They don’t bring any bad feelings about drawing and painting with them to class, and they’re used to having a teacher.”

Despite its claims of success, Mission: Renaissance does have some detractors. “I don’t think it’s an ideal situation for all kids,” said Carol Ann Thompson, an artist and a former art teacher with the Los Angeles Unified School District. “Some children might be very creative, but feel stifled by having to study traditional fine art and copy it. Or they could be turned off to art by the pressure of a parent who wants to show off the child’s still-lifes to grandparents.”

“A lot of people have looked at abstract art and thought, ‘Anybody can do that,’ ” Sheila Gluck said. “But the great abstract artists were taught the same fundamentals we teach here, then they took those fundamentals and abstracted them. Just like in tennis or ballet, you don’t go out and do your own thing. You learn the basics of how to do it first.”

About 500 children throughout the Los Angeles area learn the basics at Mission: Renaissance. “We keep the ratio at one teacher per seven students, so if a class is going to have more than seven, we bring in another teacher,” Sheila said.

Although Larry Gluck has cut back on teaching, he handles the hiring and training of Mission: Renaissance teachers, many of whom are former students. Sheila manages marketing and operations of the program, and is assisted by a daughter and son-in-law.

Sheila, who admits to little ability in fine art, has taken some of the program’s lessons. “I didn’t turn out anything wonderful, but I did learn the basics and did a painting that my mother couldn’t believe I was capable of doing,” she said.

They said several serious students have graduated to some success in the art world. Others have used their Mission: Renaissance portfolios to gain admission into programs such as CalArts in Valencia. And one former student recently took first place in a contest sponsored by the Carlsbad Oceanside Art League for one of his impressionistic oil paintings. The contest drew more than 400 entries from experienced artists, but the winner was Kevin Griffith, age 10.

During a recent session at the Encino studio, students 6 to 13 years old worked on projects ranging from beginning charcoal drawings to advanced oil paintings. Students are accepted into the class from about age 5.

“At that age, they’ve generally had some preschool or kindergarten experience and are able to sit and take instruction,” Sheila said. “We offer a free introductory class so that the child can see how he or she likes the class, and we can see if they’re ready for it.”

The first lesson is in the basics of drawing, and learning how to “build” a drawing by working from large scale to small before the introduction of color with pastels. “With children, we generally move them into color sooner than adults, since they often tend to lose interest if we keep them working in black and white too long,” Sheila said.

From there, tone, in which the artist makes a drawing appear three-dimensional, is taught. That is followed by the use of watercolors and oil paints. As students learn oils and watercolors, they are given photographs of work by the world’s great painters to copy.

As Ariel prepared his canvas for painting, he contemplated a question about whether he would rather be playing outside. “Maybe after I finish. This is fun too.”

Where and When What: Mission: Renaissance art classes. Locations: 17200 Ventura Blvd., Encino. (818) 784-1036; 3972 Verdugo Road, Glendale. (213) 255-9196; The Art Store, 11450 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, (818) 784-1036; 22323 Sherman Way, West Hills, (818) 716-0233. Cost: Weekly 1 1/2-hour lessons are $80 to $85 a month.