From the Hands of Babes. . .

The colors of the enormous pastel-on-paper self-portrait are lush and inviting. Her other work has been described as meditative and misty, with some of the spiritual quality of Mark Rothko’s painting.

Impressive criticism of artist Courtney Wiggington, age 3.

The pastels by Courtney and other preschoolers are featured in “Outside the Lines” at the Long Beach Museum of Art.

“You have to forget everything you believe about children and art,” said J. Michael Walker, curator of the new show.

These are not the chocolate-brown watercolors that find their way onto every parent’s refrigerator. Instead, the self-portraits and abstractions are the result of the youngsters’ work with Walker during his three years as artist in residence at his son’s preschool, Hilltop Nursery in Los Angeles.

“A lot of parents thought it was a yuppie thing, to have an artist in residence for toddlers, but they were all surprised by the work that came out of the studio,” Walker said.

A Los Angeles artist whose work has been exhibited throughout Southern California, Walker became interested in young children as artists when he spent mornings at the nursery. Listening to the children talk about death and God--and occasionally their parents’ wars--Walker said he began to see the preschoolers as peers.

Walker received a resident artist grant from the California Arts Council to set up a studio at Hilltop. The school provided matching funds. He set up shop three mornings a week and invited the children to explore everything from photography to ceramics to ink paintings--at times bringing in other artists to lecture.

“First we had to teach them not to paint on each other’s work,” Walker said. “And we had to discuss how there were no boy colors and girl colors. But after that, it was amazing to see the natural sense of composition that children have.

“We treated the students as artists, and they took the work seriously. We had adults saying to some kids, ‘Oh, you’re going to be an artist someday.’ And then a 3-year-old would look up and say, ‘I already am an artist.’ ”

Some children changed dramatically in the art studio, Walker said. From one uncooperative, rebellious 3-year-old came peaceful compositions. Other high-spirited toddlers would lose themselves for hours, creating one painting, Walker said.

“I don’t know what any of it means, and I don’t pretend that what they’ve done in the studio will have any long-lasting effect,” Walker said. “But what they’ve created is incredible.”

The show opened Dec. 4, but a new selection of works went on display Saturday. The show continues through Feb. 14 in the Education Gallery of the Long Beach Museum, 2300 E. Ocean Blvd. For more information, call (310) 439-2119.