Westside : Kobe T-Shirts Draw Attention to Her Art

A 9-year-old West Los Angeles girl is a household name in Kobe, Japan.

Her name, along with her artwork, appears on 30,000 T-shirts distributed free throughout the city after the devastating earthquake there earlier this year.

The young artist, Bryn Beery, had no idea she was courting fame when she and her school pals sent drawings and a letter of cheer to their counterparts in Japan.

But the artwork caught the eye of apparel manufacturer World Company Ltd., which was looking for a way to spread hope throughout the city. World gave the T-shirts to disaster victims, workers and students.

They were so popular that players in the national Japanese high school baseball championship tournament sported Bryn’s artwork during the competition.

The design features a three-dimensional box with the words love , peace and care linked to two red hearts.

Written below the box is the message, complete with misspellings: “You know I got scared to when the earthquake hit here. My name is Bryn Beery. I am 8 years old. I live in Los Angeles. I hope your okay! Bye!”

Reflecting on her unexpected fame, Bryn says simply, “Nothing this big has ever happened to me before.”

Wait until junior high school.