10-year-old artist to march with MLK

Friday, Jan. 3, 2003 | 3:35 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION: Jan. 4, 2003

Before painting the image of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on canvas, 10-year-old Las Vegas artist Briana Woody mixed gray and yellow and white with several shades of brown, including raw sienna and burnt umber, to get just the right combination for the skin tones and highlights.

The civil rights leader, who had a dream that one day people of all of those colors would live in harmony, probably wouldn't have had Briana paint his portrait any other way.

The native Las Vegan and fourth grader at the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy has been asked to carry her painting in the Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade Jan. 11 in downtown Las Vegas.

"What I learned about him in class was that he was a good man who did nice things for people," Briana said, adding that her grandmother and legal guardian, Beatrice Baca, also had told her about King's deeds after Briana saw King's towering statue in North Las Vegas and asked who he was.

Her oil painting depicts King wearing a minister's robe and posing at a pew in a church. Just a hint of a smile crosses his face, and his deep dark eyes have a look of reflective hope.

"I like drawing and painting because it gives me a good feeling -- a feeling of joy and happiness," she said. "I like to draw animals mostly. This is the first time I've ever tried to draw a human face."

Agassi School Principal Wayne Tanaka, a longtime local educator who is a co-grand marshal of this year's King Day parade, had asked Briana, who was born 24 years after King was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., if she would paint the civil rights leader's portrait.

"Briana had been doing some creative things in art class, but at the preparatory academy we try to find what hidden talents a student has and then we push them to challenge themselves and raise their level of expectation," Tanaka said.

"I told Briana that her paintings of deer and rabbits were good, but that the hardest test for an artist is portraits. So I asked her to do a portrait of Dr. King. When I saw what she painted, I said, 'Wow!' "

Tanaka, whose school traditionally marches in the King Day parade, had promised Briana that if the painting was good she could lead her school's parade participants.

"I think it's going to be a lot of fun," Briana said, noting that she was a little unhappy when Tanaka turned down her request to ride a pony while carrying the portrait in the parade.

Her first attempt to paint King's portrait was interrupted when her grandmother's car was stolen last summer with the half-finished painting and her $600 worth of painting equipment inside. The paints and brushes were replaced by friends and school officials.

Briana worked two hours a day, finishing the labor of love after several weeks of work.

Later Baca's stolen car was recovered, along with the unfinished King painting that now sits next to the framed finished portrait in the northeast Las Vegas mobile home Baca and Woody share with their 3-year-old Pomeranian, Precious.

Baca gained legal guardianship of Briana after the girl's father, Jim, was killed in an auto accident when she was 6 months old and her mother, Margaret, went out of town for work. She said she is proud of Briana's artistic talents, but says it is more important that she live a well-rounded life.

Woody, who gets A's, B's and C's in her classes, also rides horses, has earned a green belt in karate, takes piano lessons, collects Yu-Gi-Oh! trading cards, is a big fan of the Dixie Chicks and plans to take up boxing.

Her talent for art was first noticed six years ago by her grandmother.

"She has always been a very quiet child, so I would check on her in her room if I didn't hear anything," Baca said. "When she was 4, I went in her room and she was drawing fashion designs."

Carole Binford, the artist known as Ladama, who has been Briana's private art teacher for two years, said, "More than talent, Briana has the aptitude and desire."

"I can take any child and teach them the methods and techniques, but the student has to have the desire to paint," she said.

Ladama, the author of four art books and a teacher for more than a quarter of a century, said Briana "is very advanced, but I cannot say that one day she will become a great artist."

"She has maturity, a curious mind and the family support to excel at whatever she does," Ladama said. "She is a breath of fresh air."

Tanaka also is concerned about labeling Briana at such a young age.

"People may want to say that she is going to be an artist, but I say, 'Don't say that,' " Tanaka said. "She could be an architect, a fashion designer, a commercial artist. There are so many directions for her."

Asked what she wants to be when she grows up, Briana said "a veterinarian or a scuba diver -- and paint once in a while."

Her paintings reflect a love for animals, from a deer grazing in a forest to a dolphin playfully popping out of a blue-green ocean, its eyes centered and fixed upon the viewer, following him around the room.

Briana's family support also includes her mother, who resides nearby, paternal grandparents and a number of cousins she talks about at great length.

After marching in the King Day parade with her painting, she has a special wish for the work of art.

"Briana wants to give the painting to Martin Luther King's family," Baca said. "I don't know if that's possible to arrange, but she really would like them to have it."