'Art without inhibitions'

To find the new home of Art For Well Beings, you have to wander a bit. The little art center is, as director Judy Gittelsohn says, "tucked in behind" a cluster of buildings off Palo Alto's Park Boulevard. You cross a small courtyard green with shrubbery, then see the spiky, cheerful cacti lining the classroom windowsill.

I liked this place right away. The room feels peaceful and hidden; I'd never seen the room or the courtyard even though I've walked California Avenue a million times. Judy says that's the whole idea: a space where everyone feels comfortable making art. You don't feel like someone's watching over your shoulder.

Judy, herself a talented painter, is known for her art classes for people with special needs; students may be developmentally disabled, or recovering from an injury. But she teaches everyone, and likes to mix different populations in a class. She had a classroom in a school before (and also teaches at the art center and the art league), but moved onto Park Boulevard earlier this year, enjoying having her own space.

"The special-needs population can teach us how to make art without inhibitions," she told me when I dropped by a few weeks ago. "We can learn freedom. My job is to create a safe place where they can create."

There wasn't a lot of art on the bright white walls (Judy says that makes the room feel more "serene"), but creations by kids and adults, both mainstream and those with special needs, filled the corners. Cut-out fish by 9-year-old Colin Huang were bright with personality; Judy says Colin plans to make a book of Palo Alto birds. Judy also held up a "paint by puzzle" work, in which each student paints a different section. She's planning various one-day exhibits, including Superman-themed paintings by Palo Alto artist Nick Golick.

Other projects in the works include "A Meal To Remember," a fund-raising dinner at East Palo Alto's Four Seasons Hotel, in which 20 girls will create paintings to illustrate a menu at the hotel. The painters will be from Girls to Women, an East Palo Alto youth organization.

Meanwhile, Judy and other teachers offer a range of classes at Art For Well Beings, including parent-and-child classes and sessions with collage and charcoal drawing. Some, like "Art in French," haven't taken off yet, but she's optimistic. "It's not as full as I would like," she said of the roster of students, "but I'm getting an inquiry every other day."


Pictured: Top: Fish by Colin Huang. Above: Judy Gittelsohn with a "paint by puzzle" work. Photos by Rebecca Wallace.