Exposed beams, Bermuda slates with bits of mortar peeking through and peeling blue and grey paint adorn the walls of what was an old school room for children of African descent.

Presently this is what can be seen at the Old Elliot School on Jubilee Road, Devonshire, as it is transformed into the Kaleidoscope Arts Foundation.

The original Elliot School was built by 12 black men in 1848, only 14 years after emancipation, and when the school grew, it was replaced by what is now known as the Old Elliot School, also on Jubilee Road.

The school was named after Governor Charles Elliot who encouraged the project with both practical and financial help. His main aim was the education of poor whites and coloured children.

Kaleidoscope Arts Foundation director Fiona Rose Rodriguez-Roberts? aim is of a similar nature ? she wants to make art classes affordable for every child.

?When I was teaching at the The Interim (now defunct Windjammer) Gallery Kendra (Ezekiel) got me to put a sign up to advertise my classes,? she said.

?So many people called, but they just couldn?t afford them.

?Many of my parents have stayed with me knowing that I was looking for somewhere else that would make the art classes more affordable. I know that if I had children, I wouldn?t be able to afford it ? so, it has to be affordable.

?Last year we had 90 students and with the new building, we are hoping to accommodate 400. And that is still with keeping classes small and the quality high. This will be up and running every day, Saturdays and holidays.?

As a child, Mrs. Rodriguez-Roberts was fortunate to have an art teacher at home.

?That was my mother,? she said, ?And it was something that I excelled at and I felt good about it.

?I had that as my voice and I can?t imagine not having that. Often if you are academically challenged, you excel at sports or something that is a bit more hands on.

?Under the umbrella of art there is carpentry, writing, drama and music ? it?s limitless. There are many different things that are good solid jobs. Bermuda has to have a full spectrum of everyone. Being a lawyer is a wonderful profession, but not everybody can do it.?

The Kaleidoscope Art classes were birthed out of a chance teaching session during her sister?s summer day camp.

?I had always wanted to do art and I come from a family of teachers,? she said.

?I thought that I would never teach and my sister asked me for some help with her summer camp at her nursery school and I just loved it. I?d come home and start talking about the children or I?m talking to strangers and they are like, ?how many children do you have?? And I have to say, ?they are not my children?.?

The classes began nine years ago with eight kids and as of last year, there were 90 students.

?We ran every day after school for ages four to 16, and starting in the new building we will take them from toddlers through to adulthood.

?In the after school programme Kaleidoscope is very much based on quality art and process thinking for yourself.

?If you are going to do something then you should know every stage from the beginning and be able to run with it all the way through. It is about the process and being exposed and being able to enjoy that.

?A lot of new mediums come to the children and they learn to play with them, but obviously you have to learn the rules and then you can break them. You have to know how to shade and then you can look at something and say, ?I know how to do that and I can use that and take it further?.

?We look at different styles and the children learn that they don?t have to love everything they see, but they have to respect it. They also develop a vocabulary and that improves their other subjects as well.

?It is a whole lot of things.?

At the end of summer camp they have a show.

?Not all of them want to give you their work and you have to convince some of them, they don?t get it,? she said, ?But the ones who have been here the year before, say, ?here you go?.

?And when their parents and grandparents come, the looks on their faces builds confidence.

?A little boy started with me and we had out the finger paints, but he sat there for ages and didn?t know what to do. He had never seen finger paints at five years old and I found that amazing.

?He didn?t create a piece of art, but once he discovered it, he was up to his elbows in paint. The look on his face!?

She is also planning cooking classes, drama, performance poetry, studios, a sculpture garden and exhibitions in the Elliot Gallery.

?There will be a kitchen for cooking classes and we also have drama and poetry readings, which goes really nice,? she said.

?The patio area will be re-rendered, with walls on the side and there will be steps going down the front and sides.

?We can do art out there and we can also do concerts. Everything will be fenced in so it will be really safe and attractive. There will also be a Sculpture Garden out front.

?There are four studios with a door to go outside so that artists can work outside and it will also be fenced in so that they can work right over to the road.?

Asked if there had been an interest in studio space, she said: ?Yes, I have a few and we are waiting to hear back from another artist.

?There are two other studios that are open, but they are not first come first served as I am trying to get completely different artists in here to complete the whole circle.

?They are also not forever and we would like to offer them on a yearly basis. Though, if an artist is in the middle of creating, then we would consider a longer period of time. But we want it to keep moving, we don?t want it to become stagnant.?

When they had the Interim Gallery on King Street she found that they had to hold shows, which were also suitable to younger minds.

?But here, if shows are not suitable for children we can close the gallery. We don?t want to censor art.?

The opportunity of securing the Old Elliot School would have been lost had it not been for one of her students.

?There was a teeny, tiny little add in the paper one day and I hadn?t got the paper,? she said, ?And one of my students called me and asked if I had read the paper.

?It was a little ad and it didn?t even have the address of where to drop things off to. So I called up and hand delivered it the very next day.

?I sat down and talked to the board, which is owned by Christ Church across the street and they said, ?okay?. It (Old Elliot) has been held up in a trust, so it was mandatory that something educational and community-based had to go in here.

?So we became a charity in the hopes of lowering fees and hopefully one day getting rid of all fees.

?It has all really fallen into place and then you get to a point where you are like, stuck, and then something else opens. ?I have had this in my head, adding things and taking things away, it was just a question of where.

?It came to a point where I was ready to resign myself and make my classes smaller until this and it?s meant to be.

?If it doesn?t work, then we?ve tried, but I can?t believe that this wouldn?t work.?

Although some of the artists will teach some classes, she said: ?Obviously not every artist is a teacher, they?ll either teach a workshop or a class with one of our teachers. I will continue teaching the children and we will get others to teach the adults. Classes will start the week after opening.?

Asked about being in competition with the Masterworks Foundation and the Bermuda National Gallery, Mrs. Rodriguez-Roberts said: ?We offer different things ... and our classes will complement.

?If there is a class running for six to eight-year-olds than someone should be doing one for the eight to 12 year-olds. So we can vary and have something different.

?It is about filling a void and fulfilling a need.?

When she goes away, she finds that she is ?so juiced up?, but when she returns to the Island it is quite another matter.

?When I come back the walls start to come back in,? she said.

?To just have a place to hang out and talk will provide continuing excitement, so we want to make it into an artists? community, where artists can come and meet other artists.

?Culture-wise, I think that we are on the verge of something spectacular. This Island has a whole heap of talent and they need support. When you go to college there are all sorts of things around you and there is no right or wrong and it needs to happen here.?

The support has been wonderful so far, but she still needs volunteers to help make the dream a reality.

If you have a skill, would like to donate your time or something else, telephone 504-3469 or e-mail: thefarmnorthrock.bm.