Teen Urges Free Expression at Hermosa Art Walk

Sylvie Paul was equipped with markers, colored pencils and sketch paper as the Hermosa Beach Art Walk was getting underway Saturday morning. The 14-year-old artist ran the Free Expression Art Booth, an interactive art exhibit born of her own imagination.

"Just about done," Sylvie said, ready for action.

A line of eager visitors pushed their way inside the booth. Carson Hart, a friend of Sylvie's, was the first person to put pencil to paper.

"I'm the first participant here, and I don't know what to draw," Hart said. He ended up sketching seashells.

Sylvie's Free Expression Art Booth allowed anyone to draw anything as a practice of free expression. She came up with the idea when she realized that the art walk was geared mainly toward young children and adults.

"You get to a certain point where you're too young to just walk around and look at art and you're too old to go and do a craft," Sylvie said as two more teens wandered into her booth to do some drawing. 

The Free Expression Art Booth came to fruition two years ago, when Sylvie completed and submitted an application to the Hermosa Beach Art Walk committee, which approved the project and gave her a small stipend for supplies.

"I think this also conveys what the art walk is all about," Sylvie said. "It's not about selling your art or copying someone else's art. It's about showing off your inspiration."

Sylvie's community-oriented booth was a change of pace at the art walk, which  featured mostly expensive pieces. At the booth next to Sylvie's, for example, a portrait was selling for a $10,000.

Sylvie doesn't just make art, she makes it happen. When the Hermosa Valley eighth-grader was in the third grade, she approached her school's yearbook adviser and asked whether she could submit photos for the yearbook.

"That was pretty darn brave for an 8-year-old to do," said Robyn Alatorre, the yearbook adviser who is now Sylvie's art teacher.

Sylvie, who wears multi-colored braces and two different colored shoes, enjoys drawing portraits and abstract pieces. She and her father, David, take an art class together at the Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles. 

"I would say she is a great student artist, but I'll just say she is a great artist," Alatorre said.

As Sylvie tended her booth Saturday, she encouraged children, parents and teens to help themselves to the art supplies. They drew portraits of each other, animals, trees and faces. Some stuck their tongues out in concentration while others smiled as they worked.

 Jamie West, 6, and her mother were browsing the various tents at the Art Walk when the Free Expression Booth caught their attention. Jamie drew a robot while her mother, Jaki, watched.

"So much of their lives has to be structured, like their school life, and there are so many rules to follow," Jaki said. "Art is the one time to be unstructured… It's nice to see what happens when there are no restrictions."

 Sharon Hollander, 18, drew a tree and eyes. "They're my favorite things to draw," she said.

Haley Cameron, 13, sketched animals. "I don't use paints. I always mess up," she said.

Samantha Horowitz, 12, drew a portrait of her sister, Julia, while Drew Dates, 13, painted a street scene on an easel.

"One of the nice things about this booth is that we've had everyone from 4-year-olds to 74-year-olds, and we've had those age groups in here at the same time," said Leyla Woods, Sylvie's mother and a volunteer art teacher at Hermosa Valley School.