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Imagine Community Arts Center has a welcoming calm environment where anyone, be it child or adult, can enjoy creating their own kind of masterpiece.

They can learn or help others learn,  be it working with clay making a figurine or a cup, calligraphy, drawing, painting, making a sculpture, printing a lithograph, learning to use a camera, and more.

 On Thursday, Paul Zito, who teaches ceramics, helped children learn how to make coil pots, while others worked on animal figures or made other fun items.

 Once you learn to work with the clay and keep it moist while shaping it, you can do just about anything, said Zito.

 "I'm making a Cardinal for my Grandma," said Arye Missakian, 8, as he carefully worked on the bird head and torso in clay, while looking at a photograph.

 "He is actually very good," said Zito. “He made a horse and a penguin before.”

 "It is my Mom's favorite bird," said Dayla Missakian, Arye's mother.

 "We've been coming to Imagine for about five weeks. Arye will be in 3rd grade in August. Paul is so patient with these kids. I'm always impressed with what the kids make here each week. Arye loves coming here."

 Imagine Art and Learning Center is located at 372 N. Third St. Porterville.

 After the class, Zito carefully put all the kids' ceramics in a cupboard, making sure the unfinished pieces didn’t dry out. He said they would fire all the pots in the kiln, and then the kids would paint them.

Smiling proudly, Jonathan Correa, 6, held up a small heart plaque he made in clay, and said, "I made a cup, a lizard, and then a heart."

 Imagine Community Arts Center has been in business for 12 years, said owner and director Rebecca Reyes. Originally the art studio was next to the Porterville Chamber of Commerce and at various other studios on Main St.

They’ve been working with multiple school districts in Tulare County to bring quality art onto the campuses, bringing in art disciplines such as printmaking using a mono print machine, lithographs, acrylic painting, sculpture, all kinds of collage, and photography.

"We are taking the elements of art and teaching it through the lens of STEAM; science, technology, engineering, art, and math."

"It's really cool," said Reyes.

"In the last 12 months we have been able to serve 280 students per week.

 "This has been my dream since I was little. Making art and playing teacher. 

And it's great to be able to integrate those things, and I've found a way to do both together.

"And the best part about living my passion, is to share it with so many people in the community.

"We are generating opportunities for students to find out if they are artists by learning skills that will support and give them confidence throughout their lives.

“Imagine is valuable in the Valley because there are no other public working studios like us, where children and adults can learn and build their artistic skills.

“And what makes us different is we are very accessible, it's $5 a day to use the studio, and we are open 10 hours a day.

That $5 gets you access to all materials: watercolors, gouache, colored pencils, colored pens, building materials, codeable robots, 3-D printers, and even sewing machines, the ceramic studio, and more.

Besides the art studio, Reyes and staff built a large vegetable garden in the back of the large studio, which she uses to teach the kids. 

"The garden is a really good learning tool, but it is also a peaceful place to hang out, and it is often an inspiration for art,” Reyes said.

"It has been a learning curve for me, learning how to operate a non-profit business. I knew families in Porterville needed a low cost place to make art, and parents needed an outlet for themselves and their children.

"The adult workshops at Imagine, the ceramics and the paint night, as well as the events we hold here are well received in the community. 

And 50 percent of our ceramic class enrollees are from out of town, as far away as Madera, Fresno, Bakersfield and Visalia.

“The other benefit of being a non-profit organization is being able to receive donations from the community. It has allowed us to build the partnerships we have. With Sierra View we did an arts and crafts workshop for the benefit of the nurses, doctors, and staff.”

Imagine staff also worked with Walmart Distribution Center and did a large ¼ mile sidewalk chalk art mural for their Night Run Fundraiser, and recently they worked with McDermott X in Lindsay and did a full scale S.T.E.A.M. Lab that included a professional chess teacher, as well as arts instruction, and a 3-D printer.

There are 8 families Heartland Home school sponsors to attend Imagine.

And IAC just had an exhibit at the Porterville Historical Museum that recently ended. 

"What is great is when you build a great place to work, it is a joy for the community to come and have a welcoming and fun place to work. Everyone loves to be here," Reyes said. "No one calls in sick. It's as welcoming to patrons as it is to staff."

Currently the art center has 12 employees, but when the program really picks up during the school year, there will be 18.

They have been working with the Porterville Garden Club and have a full vegetable garden. A community member paid for and installed the water system. 

The tomato and watermelon plants were donated, and the whole garden is thriving. There are 4 types of tomatoes, cucumbers, melons, eggplants, squashes, and some herbs, like chives, basil and cilantro.

Also some Shasta daisies and Black Eyed Susan flowers.

Imagine Art Center will have a booth and free kids craft area at the Camp Nelson Mountain Festival Saturday and Sunday, August 6 and 7.

For more information www.imagine artscenter.org call 559-615-1373 or email at imagine.arts.center@gmail.com

or visit www.imaginelc.org

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