Diagram of Third Street Light Rail transit platform.

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Brianna Beasley, Shona Green, Whitney Gregory, David and Leandra Houston, Ryan Watt

A total of 14 students, aged 8 to 16 years old, created designs in the Youth Arts Program workshops over a 5 month period. 40 of these designs will be further adapted by the

panels that will be installed in windscreens on 20 of the 28 transit platforms in the light rail system. Each panel is approximately 6 feet high and 4 feet wide.

The Youth Arts Program workshops included two aspects: 1) presentations describing the process of designing the Third Street Light Rail line by Muni staff, as well as design presentations by artists involved in other aspects of the art enrichment program for the Third Street Light Rail Project; and, 2) a series of hands-on workshops, planned and implemented by Sheila Ghidini, to explore various art techniques and to develop artworks for reproduction on the platform windscreen panels. Further information about the workshops is included in the following comments by Sheila Ghidini.

Third Street Light Rail platforms for passengers for many years to come. For the students’ creativity and dedication to this project, the City and County of San Francisco is deeply grateful.

Judy MoranArts Commission Project Manager

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The Third Street Light Rail Youth Arts Program, a temporary program sponsored by the San Francisco Arts Commission, was created to give children residing along Third Street an opportunity to design permanent artwork for a new light rail transit line in San Francisco. The new light rail system is being constructed by the San Francisco Municipal Railway along the Third Street corridor, beginning at 4th and King Street and extending south over the 101 Freeway to Bayshore Boulevard, ending at the San Mateo County

eastern side of the City, is scheduled to begin construction in early 2002, to be completed in late 2004.

For the Third Street Light Rail Project, as with each City and County of San Francisco construction project, a percentage of the construction cost is designated for art enrichment, to be facilitated by the San Francisco Arts Commission. The Youth Arts Program is part of a larger art enrichment program that will enhance the transit experience for pas-sengers visiting the new platforms along the Third Street corridor. The artwork in this booklet, which documents the Youth Arts Program, was created entirely by the participat-ing students, including all the drawings, the photographic streetscape collages, and the background prints. Each student has his or her own page, with a photograph and an example of his or her artwork.

As a result of suggestions made at a community meeting for this project by Bayview resident and Third Street Light Rail Project Community Advisory member Dorris Vincent, the Arts Commission decided to involve youth residing in neighborhoods along the Third Street corridor in the development of artwork for the project. The Arts Commis-sion contracted with artist Sheila Ghidini, an artist who

experience working with youth, to facilitate the program at three youth sites in different neighborhoods adjacent to Third Street: the Potrero Hill Neighborhood House, the Bayview Opera House, and the Visitacion Valley Community Beacon Center.

The workshops for the Third Street Light Rail Youth Arts Program that I led in the Spring of 2001 were

.tcudorp sa llew sa ssecorp ezisahpme ot dengisedIn addition to the goal of creating artworks that would be reproduced for permanent installation on the light rail transit platform, the workshops also provided an opportunity for students to learn a range of artistic techniques, to observe connec-tions between their projects and relevant aspects of art history, and to explore concepts relative to their lives and their neighborhoods.

Art teachers at each of the three community cen-ters assisted me, including Minna Eloranta at the Potrero Hill Neighborhood House, Dolores Gray at the Bayview Opera House, and Norita Gonzalez at the Visitacion Valley Community Beacon Center. We worked together to present a curriculum based on the visual elements of line, shape, texture, value, color, space and time with an over arching theme

Various techniques used in creating the artworks included photography, pencil, pastel, pen and ink drawing, printmaking, scratch board and collage. While exploring these concepts and techniques as a group, each student was encouraged to discover their own personal style in a sequence of projects which progressed in complexity.

An initial project incorporated line to explore the students’ personal paths of daily travel. Walk-ing tours through neighborhoods during which students photographed buildings, streets, signage and people followed the development of simple linear maps. The photographic images were later

reassembled into linear formats, creating cubist-style perspectives of surrounding neighborhoods, with some images becoming subject matter for subsequent painting and drawing projects.

A number of group projects were inspired by personal interests of some of the students, such as a sketchbook of car drawings by Marcos Ramirez at Potrero Hill Neighborhood House, or superheroes created by Shayisha Warr and Markeda Cottonham at Visitacion Valley Community Beacon Center.

The art projects throughout the workshops included individual artworks as well as artworks created by each of the three groups working col-laboratively, combining several techniques. These group projects were large scale maps that the stu-dents layered with personal imagery expressing their relationships to their neighborhoods.

I believe all the students who participated in the Youth Arts Program developed artistically as well as personally as the self-esteem of each participant increased along with their abilities. For students to have their artworks publicly displayed in a per-manent material in their own neighborhoods is an honor; however the personal rewards of mastering

be proud of their wonderful contributions to the Third Street environment.

Sheila GhidiniYouth Arts Program Coordinator

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Amber Huesso and Laura Moreno

Laura Moreno, Marcus Anthony Ramirez, Amber Huesso, Sheila Ghidini, Minna Eloranta, Alfredo Hurtado

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“Youth, education and the arts are all priori-ties at Potrero Hill Neighborhood House. The Youth Arts Program was ideal for us because it addressed each of these in a very meaning-ful way. Information on transportation and the Third Street Light Rail Project was blended ingeniously with arts curriculum. Participants gained experience in a wide variety of tech-niques and had the opportunity to develop artis-tic skills that I know will serve them well in the future. Throughout the program, the students’

as artists whose work was valued. In the months since the program took place, each participant has displayed a heightened interest in the arts

Katherine RairighDirector of the Social Development Center

I used symbols in this mandala. The elephant and clover stand for luck. The eye, in both the mandala and prints, is about the eye of the beholder.

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I enjoy doing street art, but I had fun doing the workshops. I’d like to participate in more of them.

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handle, but once you get it, you can get into it.

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Brianna Beasley and Shonna Green

Ryan Watt, Leandra Houston, David Houston, neerG annohS ,yelsaeB annairB ,yrogerG yentihW

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9These houses are in the neighborhood. They are done in pastels and I worked hard to get it right.

10rst made an outline and then

added more detail, including shading. I enjoyed the art classes with Ms. Dolores and Ms. Sheila and hope that other kids get a chance to participate and do what we did.

11This drawing was done in pastels. I worked from a photograph of the neighborhood.

12I enjoy drawing and have been doing it for a long time. My sketchbook is

13I have been drawing since I was six years old. I enjoy drawing.

14This artwork is about a trip my Mom and I made to Hollywood. We left

ew for three hours. When we arrived there we waited for a cab and went to a hotel to sleep. The next day we left the hotel and went to the studio to be on a television show with Judge Judy.

clockwide from bottom left:Roberto Salazar, Sheila Ghidini, Alisha Miller, Norita Gonzalez, Shayisha Warr, Markeda Cottonham

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Visitation Valley group collage

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My super hero can prevent starvation and hunger in the world. She’s a really good cook. She has two birds which she can activate with a password to keep

organization. Her only weakness is that an animal gun can destroy her.

17My artwork is about a trip that I took last summer.

18My artwork is about a trip that I took to Great America with my cousin and some friends.

19Super African American Flyer

people so that she can take them to jail. She is very intelligent and has a mind like that of 10,000 people. She has buttons on her garment which can activate poison

Dorris M. Vincent, Bayview community repre-sentative, member of the Muni Third Street Light Rail Community Advisory Group

Fran Martin, Visitacion Valley community representative, member of the Muni Third Street Light Rail Community Advisory Group

Horace Washington, member of the Third Street Light Rail Artist Team for Bayview Hunters Point.

Julia Marshall, Associate Professor in Arts Education, San Francisco State University

Dennis Tsai, Muni, Senior Project Manager for the Third Street Light Rail Project

Drew Howard, Muni, Project Engineer for the Third Street Light Rail Project

Sue Olive, Muni, Project Manager for the Third Street Light Rail Project

Mary Beth Bowman, Project Planner for the Third Street Light Rail Project

Jill Manton, Arts Commission, Director, Public Art Program

Thanks to Ari Salomon for his savvy assistance in the design and production of the Youth Arts Program permanent artworks and of this booklet.

Copyright © 2002 San Francisco Arts Commission

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The San Francisco Arts Commission and the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni) wish to thank each student who participated in the Third Street Light Rail Youth Arts Program for their wonderful contributions to this major new transit project. Their artwork will bring plea-sure to transit passengers along Third Street for many years into the future.

We also wish to express our gratitude to Sheila Ghidini, the Youth Arts Program Coordinator, for her dedication to this program. Her thought-ful guidance and creativity are evident in every aspect of this project. Besides planning and lead-ing the workshops, she contributed to so many other important aspects of the program, includ-

permanent artworks and of this booklet.

In addition, we would like to thank the three participating organizations that provided art teachers, students, and great support for the workshops:The Potrero Hill Neighborhood House, in particular Katherine Rairigh, Director of the Social Development Center, and Minna Eloranta, art teacherThe Bayview Opera House, in particular Dolores Gray, art teacherThe Visitacion Valley Community Beacon Center, in particular Norita Gonzalez, art teacher

We appreciate the valuable contributions to the program made over many months by the members of the Third Street Light Rail Youth Arts Program Community Advisory Committee:

M.E.B. Gordon, Potrero Hill community representative

Amber and Laura listen to a presentation by Drew Howard

San Francisco Arts Commission25 Van Ness Avenue, Suite 240

San Francisco, CA 94102