Master of Horror Left an Art-Filled Legacy of Learning

It is a curious collection in an unlikely place.

A Picasso etching, a Mayan goddess carved from red volcanic rock, a cartoon cel from “The Great Mouse Detective” and a 10-inch striped Hopi kachina are on display at East Los Angeles College--in the Vincent Price Art Gallery.

The eclectic collection, which has more than 2,000 pieces and is valued at $5 million, is the only institutional art holding on the Eastside. There are a handful of art studios in the area, but none maintain comparable collections.

In 1951, dashing menace and film actor Vincent Price visited the college, a campus then dotted with Quonset huts and muddy patches. Inspired by the talent and the need of the art students, he decided to start a “teaching collection.”

Initially donating 90 pieces, Price contributed about two-thirds of the current holdings before his death in 1993.

“Acting was his hobby. Art was his passion,” said gallery director Thomas Silliman, who has held his post for 40 years.

Many notable alumni of the college’s art program, such as artist Gronk, muralist Kent Twitchell and painter Patssi Valdez credit the gallery as a major influence. Alumni artwork has appeared in a range of venues, from the National Gallery to a Los Lobos album cover.

Students can take hands-on classes that train them how to frame and display art--starting with their own works and gradually moving on to gallery pieces worth thousands of dollars.

On a recent afternoon, the workshop was packed to the rafters with supplies: rows of screwdrivers, a sledgehammer and sheets of plastic. On the workbench, students were matting display tags.

The two gallery spaces--both ensconced among classrooms--are packed with artworks mounted and displayed with creative make-do. Fishing wire loops around pottery works, attaching them to eye hooks and hidden plastic foam blocks.

“To work with your own hands on valuable painting--I can’t explain how it feels,” said a passionate Victor Parra, 26, assistant gallery director and an alumnus. “The gallery is my second home.”

When not on display, art pieces are stored in a two-story vault in the Learning Resource Center. Behind an unmarked wooden door and surrounded by thick concrete walls, hundreds of paintings, posters and sculptures are stacked on shelves.

Students are allowed to design their own exhibits, a fond memory for Twitchell, a 1965 graduate whose realistic murals grace the Harbor Freeway and various downtown Los Angeles buildings.

“We were treated as professional curators. We had authority,” said Twitchell, 55. “Having the ability to confront a massive idea--that’s what makes an artist successful.”

The gallery sponsors three shows a year, with visiting artists, student presentations and “Coming Home,” a show featuring alumni works. Over the years, major exhibits have included a Rufino Tamayo retrospective in 1981 and a 1991 modern Mexican masters show, in association with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

On occasion, gallery workers cart art pieces into the classroom, at the request of the instructor. For students, that’s when art rises up from the flatness of the page, when a painting becomes as tangible as a spiral notebook.

“You can see the piece from all different sides. There’s no big mystery. You can see behind the scenes,” said painter and performance artist Gronk, who grew up in East L.A. and attended art classes at the college during the early ‘70s. “It was an important beginning for me. I needed to do art, as an escape from my environment, an escape from poverty.”

The gallery operates on a $15,000 annual budget, funded by the college. During the ‘80s, budget cuts placed the collection in jeopardy. At times, Silliman said, he paid for gallery expenses out of pocket.

In 1989, the Vincent Price Art Gallery Foundation was established to safeguard the collection, said Chairwoman Wallace Albertson. The foundation raises money for special projects, such as the improvement of gallery lighting.

The foundation hopes to develop traveling shows, build better gallery housing and add temperature and humidity controls to the storage vault.

Price’s legacy has blossomed each year. Other benefactors, such as Bernard and Edith Lewin and the Heritage Gallery, have nurtured the collection.

“This is what he was proudest of doing. He loved it,” said the founder’s daughter Victoria Price, a writer living in New Mexico.

The museum’s “Discovery Show,” featuring 150 works from the collection, is slated to run from noon to 3 p.m. weekdays from Tuesday through Dec. 12.