PACOIMA : Art Contest to Draw on Family Pride

Kids draw the darndest things.

That’s what Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon and muralist Manuel Velasquez found out when they started judging the Pacoima Pride art contest three years ago.

When they were asked to depict Pacoima in the future, children drew spaceships with people committing drive-by shootings. Well-rendered depictions of buildings also showed bullet holes. And too many of the young artists seemed to know liquor advertisements verbatim.

“Emotionally, it’s a lot of heavy-duty things,” said Velasquez, who joined Alarcon in kicking off this year’s contest at Haddon Avenue Elementary School on Thursday. “There was a lot of good things too, a lot of positive things,” he added.

It’s the positive that the event sponsor, TransWorld Bank, hopes to show this year with the theme of “Family and Community Pride.”

Winners of the contest receive cash prizes and have their art displayed in City Hall and the Los Angeles Children’s Museum.

“I’m particularly pleased they’ve selected that theme, because most of us here are Latinos, and as Latinos, most of us hold our families near and dear to our hearts,” Alarcon told about 150 parents, teachers and students who gathered in the auditorium.

“When you live in Pacoima, there are two families you can choose--yours or the homeboys on the street,” Velasquez warned. “If you can’t give them love and support, they (gangs) will.”

This year, four schools will participate--Haddon, Pacoima Elementary, Mary Immaculate School and newcomer Vaughn Learning Center. Teachers will tailor their lesson plans around the contest, which runs through March 7.

“They’re really into it,” said Liane Clark, who teaches second- and third-grade students at Haddon Elementary. “It involves arts, science, social studies--we bring everything into it.”

Clark had the top three winners for the second grade in her class last year and said she hopes to repeat the feat.

Third-grader Santana Flores won third prize last year for drawing an answer to the contest-theme question: “How can I make a difference in my community?”

“I drew bears drinking water, someone helping an old lady cross the street, and a boy giving a girl an apple,” she said. She was not so forthcoming about this year’s endeavor, however. “I don’t know yet,” she insisted.