Work of Art

At St. Louis ArtWorks, each piece of art begins with a handshake. That’s because the teenage St. Louisans taking part in the ArtWorks program are working on their business skills just as much as on their brush strokes.

“The emphasis is on employment,” said Priscilla Block, the executive director of St. Louis ArtWorks, an area not-for-profit that affords local 17- and 18-year-olds an opportunity to work as commissioned artists for corporate and individual clients. While the organization is best known for its summer sessions, the teens at ArtWorks work with clients year round.

When one enters the ArtWorks midtown studio, a dozen young employees will be waiting with hands extended. After all, their next client might have just walked in the door.

“That’s the one thing I want to see them be able to do,” said Block, who has served as the organization’s executive director since 2001. “Look someone in the eye and give a good handshake.”

With help from the organization’s board of directors, Block arranges for clients to commission ArtWorks employees for the creation of works such as murals, graphics or furniture. The rest is up to her employees.

“It’s their job to go out and meet the client and figure out what the client wants,” said Block.

Thus, the business of St. Louis ArtWorks is the business of art.

As employees, young artists have a chance to bring home a paycheck by working on an array of art-based commissions. Currently, the artists are fashioning outdoor benches for installation in a Vashon High courtyard, painting a mural to be erected in the Renaissance Place Recreation Center and designing two seats for a remodeling of the offices of the St. Louis Area Business Health Coalition.

As they strive to deliver a satisfactory product to their clients, the ArtWorks artists pick up valuable real-world skills, such as experience using computers for graphics design work.

Cedric Curry, a Vashon High School senior, has designed postcards for ArtWorks clients using Adobe’s Photoshop and Illustrator programs. He said he didn’t have any familiarity with these programs before he began working for Artworks in the summer of 2006 but is now interested in a career in graphic design.

“I’m trying to go to art school,” he said. “You gotta be on the computer everyday to know that stuff.”

Curry is now considered a veteran of the program, one of the “leaders,” as Block would put it.

To be eligible for admission to ArtWorks, a student must prove that he or she is facing two barriers, which might include poverty, foster-child status or testing below grade level. To this extent, ArtWorks becomes an extra layer of support for a student whose current support system is wanting.

Now in its 12th year, ArtWorks has hired some 1,300 area teenagers. In addition to its mission of arts education, the program also ensures that its young employees show up for life, said Block.

For a student close to the poverty line, ArtWorks can be a very appealing opportunity. During the summer session — when school is out — employees can make up to $1,000 each. Indeed, there is competition to get into the ArtWorks program and students must apply and interview to be hired.

Block looks for students with enthusiasm for the job.

“Will they be sulky or will they be happy?” she asked.

When Eric Armbrecht, of the St. Louis Business Health Coalition, visited the ArtWorks studio one recent afternoon, a group of ArtWorks employees was more anxious than anything else. Armbrecht was their client and would soon be taking a look at the conceptual drawings they had been working on as a first step in designing two seats that would go into the Coalition’s newly remodeled office.

Abraham Garcia, Lakeisha Joyce, Aaron Hamilton and Cieara Hart stood behind a long table with their drawings as Armbrecht offered suggestions.

At one point, he picked up a pen himself in an effort to explain what he was thinking; in this case the language of feedback was best made visual.

“It’s not just about creativity,” Armbrecht said. “The trick is going to be engineering.”

His feedback underscored the reality of working for a client; artists would have to meet their client’s expectations.

Before their next meeting with Armbrecht, they would have to create physical models from their drawings and eventually they would have to figure out all of the little details, like what fabric the seat would be made from.

In Block’s mind, it is this back-and-forth with a client that gives ArtWorks employees an edge over their peers as they look ahead to college or an art-based career.

“If you can walk in and you’re already ready to work, you’re a step ahead,” she said.

Armbrecht would be back next week to examine the models and offer more suggestions as the project advanced.

But this was no reason for trepidation. Instead, these artists were becoming comfortable with their reliance on a client’s feedback. As any ArtWorks employee could attest, this was the business of art.