BUSINESS PROFILE: J. Behman Gallery

Public Record, The, Mar 29, 2002 by Apfelbaum, Sharon

Jayne Behman presides over her art gallery like a hang-loose Auntie Marne. Her quick epithets and hilarious asides brush the air with spontaneity; her vibrant paintings add excitement to ordinary gallery walls. The Desert Fine Arts Academy, also founded and run by the voluptuous, copper-haired dynamo, makes its home in the same North Palm Canyon Drive gallery building. Here Behman offers a variety of performing and visual arts classes for budding and bloomed artists of all ages, and provides them exhibition space beside more established artists.

Walk into the gallery and you're met with the sounds of music often Italian opera - and flowing water from a courtyard fountain. The bright rooms are a wash of natural light, and the floors have been casually splatter-painted. Sculptures both small and larger-than-life stand in the courtyard. Handmade garden benches look inviting, so it's hard to resist pausing there just to listen, look deeply and realize the who whole is an atmospheric setting where every niche is filled with art.

Behman opened her gallery and companion academy seven years ago. In addition to private art students, the academy is part of the curriculum in the Palm Springs Unified School District and private schools such as Marywood Country Day School. She helped write the curriculum for Palm Springs Unified School District's GATE program, "Learn Spanish through the Arts," an In-school program that teaches Spanish using visual and performance arts.

Employing a teaching staff of eight, the Academy presents after-school arts classes and private classes. Next July they will offer a month-long summer camp. Students can learn soapstone carving, gourd painting and weaving through the teachings of American Indian artist Willy Pink. Another class teaches film-making and digital imaging.

Behman says some 40% of students attending after-school arts classes require financial assistance. Because she believes the ails should be accessible to all and an integral part of a child's education process, Behman and the Academy staff are committed to raise scholarship funds through active fundraising and private partnerships.

The Academy creates a clever newsletter splashed with drawings, photos and quotes, listing classes and activities and succinctly telling who and what they are. One quote reads: "Persons of all ages require a creative channel. When the dust of war settles we shall he remembered for our artistic contributions.