Luckily, the city offers quite a few places where idle high school students can spend time satisfying their creative urges.

Harvey Milk Photo Center

A dual school and photo workshop, the Harvey Milk Photo Center is part of the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department. The center offers classes as well use of as a darkroom and photo enlarger for paid members. Membership fees for youth are $25 for six months, plus $5 for each day’s use of the Photo Center facilities.

The center offers classes in various forms of photography, such as digital, portraiture and travel photography, but focuses on black-and-white photography using a manual camera. This is a nice return to traditional photography, according to Class of ’05 alumnus Jake Watters, a former student at Harvey Milk. “Digital photography requires less skill in general,” Watters said. “You can take 500 pictures, and one is bound to turn out right, but with a manual camera, you need to know how to get the effect you want.”

The eight-week Basic Beginning Black and White Photography class covers how to use a manual camera and select the proper equipment, as well as basic portrait composition, lighting and processing techniques. Class sizes are limited to 16 students and because classes fill up quickly, the center requires payment in advance. Students must provide their own camera and film, but the center covers all photo developing.

In addition to photography classes, the center also has free Saturday afternoon slideshow showings, which feature travel photos from places like China, the Galapagos, Tibet, Alaska and Mexico taken by seasoned photographers. “Some are professional photographers who want to promote something for their gallery, but most are just students who have traveled and just want to show off their work,” said Forest Stone, who works at the Center preparing photos and encourages youth to stop by.

“It’s a friendly photography environment,” Stone said. “Most people who use the center are 20-30 years old. There are a few teenagers, but there are no age limits, so they are always welcome.”

For application information, please visit the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department Photography Center Web site (sfphotocenter.com).

(415) 554-9522

50 Scott Street and Duboce

Academy of Art University

For those looking for a more professional art program, Academy of Art College, located in downtown San Francisco, offers 29 classes tailored for high school students in the Summer Art Experience program, which runs for six and a half weeks, with twice-a-week three-hour sessions.

Among the 29 classes are advertising design, animation, drawing, composition, fashion design, figure drawing, mural painting and photography.

"These classes are usually the first time in students' lives when they can be surrounded by other people who are just as enthusiastic about art as they are, and it's no longer the artist who is the odd one out," student recruiter Jake Knight said.

Students enrolling in the Summer Art Experience program must enroll in two classes. The school charges an enrollment fee of $100 and students must pay for their own supplies, which vary according to the needs of the class. For example, an acting class requires nothing more than $5, while a photography class can exceed $200 if the student does not have a manual camera already, according to Knight.

If these numbers seem staggering, be assured that “the tuition and class fees, which can reach over a $1,000 elsewhere, are paid for by the school,” Knight said. “It's a very good deal for a very strong art program. Students who truly have difficulties usually get an art teacher to arrange funding or get an affinity group to sponsor them.”

Junior Annabel Hung took 3D Animation and Video Game Development at Academy of Art last summer. "I wanted something not too expensive so that if the program wasn't amazing, I wouldn't feel like I wasted a lot of money," she said "I also wanted to stay close to home, so AA's location is great."

Hung felt that the program was an enjoyable experience. “I learned the basics of the software that professionals use, and met some really cool people along the way,” Hung said. “The final exhibition was the best part because we got to show off our work, and it was funny and satisfying seeing everybody's parents in awe of our skills.”<,p> Available online at the Academy’s Web site (www.academyart.edu), applications are accepted until classes begin.

1(800) 544-2787

Admissions Office:

P.O. Box 193844

San Francisco, CA 94119-3844.

Kids Art

Kids Art on West Portal has options for both long-term learners and experimenters. “Our regular program focuses on fine art: drawing for seven months, painting and watercolor for nine, acrylic and oil for one year each,” Kids Art staff member Heather NeSmith said. “We also have weeklong workshops over the summer for which no experience is needed.”

Kids Art is a good choice for five to 18-year-olds who are also taking art classes at school, or plan to pursue an artistic career, she said. Kids Art also provides help with college art portfolio.

“At school we never seem to have enough time,” said junior Hallie Scheflin, who took the yearlong program at Kids Art and Art 1 at school. “But here it’s basically studio time. In Art 1, I feel like I’m doing well because I know art, and at Kids Art I am meticulous because I want to get it right.”

AP Studio Art teacher Maria Rode agrees that combining outside art programs with those offered at Lowell can be beneficial. “Places like Kids Art teach students to paint from pictures, which is useful, but in our beginning classes, we set students’ thinking free and let them go,” Rode said. “It’s like reciting a poem versus writing one, but students learn different things in different environments, so it’s all good.”

Summer Kids Artworkshops include cartooning, mixed media sculpting, drawing exploration, and watercolor. Prices are $165 to $195 per week, depending on the number of workshops the student takes; the more the cheaper. Regular year-around classes are $114 per month. Registration is on a first-come-first-serve basis. Call Kids Art for the application, which will be sent by mail.

360 A&D West Portal Ave.

San Francisco, CA 94127

(415) 759-5757

City College of San Francisco

Taking classes offered at City College has a great advantage: college credit, with the exception of Drawing 1 and 2, which are offered by College for Teens and instead count for high school credit. And another: They cost only $26 per unit.

Credit classes in art come in a wide variety of topics: art history, painting and drawing in various mediums, printmaking, ceramics, sculpture, metal arts, to name a few.

“Community colleges are great places to complete your general education, which is required in all colleges and universities," Raymond Holbert said, an art history professor at CCSF. "When students go to community colleges, they end up saving time and money and improve their chances of going to graduate school.”

The college has an open-enrollment policy that does not require a high-school diploma, but the application procedures for high school students are a bit complicated because, unfortunately, few take full advantage of the courses available.

One complications is that CCSF’s summer session begins on June 16, right before school lets out, though for seniors, the timing will not be an issue.

The City College Web site, www.ccsf.edu

Art Department Office:

(415) 239-3156