CALABASAS : Art Workshop for Girls Moves to City Hall

A dozen teen-age girls from broken homes and probation camps moved their art workshop to the Calabasas City Council chamber this week, keeping alive a fledgling program meant to help them cope with anger and violence.

Desks usually reserved for the city clerk and council staff were turned into work benches as participants in the Heartworld program fashioned collages from beads, shells and magazine cutouts with the seriousness of officials making intricate planning decisions.

The girls, forced to vacate their gallery in Calabasas last week after the lease expired, were invited to use City Hall while the nonprofit Heartworld searches for a new home, said Calabasas recreation coordinator Amy Jones.

But using the City Council chamber is not a permanent solution for a workshop that meets three times a week, Jones said.

Heartworld leased a gymnasium-size studio for a year, using one-time developer fees allocated by the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department until last week, and has no money to rent another, said Director Anne Nathan-Wlodarski.

If a new site is not found, the group may be forced to scale back its program, she said. The organization’s clients range from ex-convicts to youths from abusive families in the Greater Los Angeles area, who come once a week to paint, sculpt and paste.

“We’re hoping someone will come along and offer us a place,” said Nathan-Wlodarski. “Having a space of our own means the (youths) get to leave the camps or the centers and come to a place where their work is on display. It’s much more encouraging that way.”

Peggy Jordan, clinical director of the Mid-Valley Youth Center, said residents of her facility sometimes learn to use artwork to express violent emotions.

“Instead of tearing something up or destroying the room, maybe they will pick up a paintbrush or a pen,” Jordan said. “Just the act of creating something can be therapeutic. It’s not going to solve all of their problems, but they can learn another avenue for expressing themselves.”