July 1, 1999
Jennie Webb

Technique. The basics. Like ballet positions for any dancer. Like scales and arpeggios on the piano. That's what it's about at Mission: Renaissance, a studio founded by artist Larry Gluck in 1975. Based in Glendale, Mission: Renaissance is focused on reviving the "lost" fine art techniques and often neglected basics.

"Today people get into graphics and computers," says Jasmin Espada-Zimmatore, Vice President of the studio's Public Relations. "People come to us and say 'I have a Masters in Fine Art, but can you teach me how to draw?' So here we teach the classic way, with charcoal, watercolors and oils."

With 15 studios throughout the Southland, it's nice to hear that Mission: Renaissance also prides itself on be-bunking what Larry Gluck calls "The Talent Myth," the premise that we have to be born with talent in order to become an accomplished artist. Using his program, teachers are trained to develop artistic ability in nearly everyone who has the desire to make it happen.

The Mission: Renaissance Glendale studio serves only children. The studios in La Cañada- Flintridge and Pasadena hold classes for adults. In Glendale a group of 11 children ages 6-14 were quietly and diligently working away in their own world, on their own masterpieces. Older kids were duplicating landscapes, and the younger ones used pastels to draw animals from "step drawings," which delineate the basic shapes of the figures.

Instructors Simin Eshtehardi and Movses Dermovsessian give plenty of individual attention, offering advice and asking questions such as "Where is the light coming from?" and "If you were going to attach a shadow, what colors do you use?" They respectfully and professionally point out options, and they push each artist to add their own style to their work.

Tyler, at 6, is drawing a very colorful owl. Is it finished, he asks his teachers?

"This is the wing – how about feathers?" asks Dermovsessian. "That means drawing textures. Do you know how to do that? To give it a fluffly feeling?"

The possibility is considered, then comes a very definite, "I don't want to do feathers."

"If you don't want to, you don't have to," replies Dermovsessian warmly. "Sign your name! It's great!"

Espada-Zimmatore says that some of the kids here today have been taking classes for years, and some are just starting out. But regardless, each child always works at his or her individual level and pace as they move from one medium to the next.

"Art teaches the kids to be patient and to be able to slow down and work for something in a society that wants it now," Espada-Zimmatore says. "Self-esteem, that's the number one thing at Mission: Renaissance. That our students have a sense of pride and accomplishment."
 

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