Moral of Murals at County School: Hope

Unlike many impatient artists starting out, the students whose work now adorns the walls of the Mid Valley Community Education Center realize that its full effect will be measured over many years.

In the short run, the 14- to 18-year-olds have considerably brightened their school, a county-run facility serving teenagers on probation or recently released from prison. But for them, the long term carries the most weight.

“We wanted people to look at the school down the road and say, ‘These kids have talents. They’re not just bad people,’ ” said Fara Sosa, 18, a recent Mid Valley graduate. “Also the students, they can look at the drawings and say, ‘If I can do that, I can do something more. I can make something of myself.’ ”

Sosa joined a handful of other students and several county and school officials Monday at the unveiling of the Operation Beautification project, which took about a year to complete.

Mid Valley students, working in pairs or small groups, covered the walls with murals bearing images ranging from giant insects to Aztec civilization to cartoon characters. Together, the group completed a tile mosaic, “How We Live in Our Community With Education,” that is mounted on the front of the building in the 7500 block of Van Nuys Boulevard.

L.A. Theatre Works, a Venice-based nonprofit group, initiated the project, enlisting the help of two visual artists and an architect.

“These are kids people think of as a threat to society,” said Gale Cohen, Theatre Works’ managing director. “This proves they can express themselves. . . . Everyone who comes through here gets hit with their energy. When you see all of this, you realize you can’t really toss them aside so easily.”

Cohen said the project caused several students to “hit the walls of their own limitations,” but even that occasional frustration proved constructive.

Sosa, who will begin studying veterinary science at Moorpark College in the fall, hit one small wall on the way to completing her piece “Warm Hearts.” When she began to paint the lettering that would spell out the title over a cartoonish heart assuming human form, she was told to avoid calligraphy.

“They said it was a gang sign,” she said. “I thought it would have gone better [with the curving flames that border the piece]. But it’s OK. The main thing is I wanted something different. I wanted people to walk in and say, ‘Hey, that doesn’t have anything to do with school.’ ”