Back when the Hilltop Artists in Residence Tacoma (HART) program started in 1994, tutor Greg Piercy was helping students blow glass out of recycled Snapple bottles and recruiting gang members from street corners.

Things have changed quite a bit since then for the Tacoma nonprofit aimed at getting kids back on track through glass: It’s gone from an idea in Dale Chihuly’s head to a $524,000-a-year organization with two full hot shops at Jason Lee Middle School and Wilson High School. It’s gone from 12 students after school to 575 students annually, and from one after-school drop-in zone to nine in-school, after-school and summer programs. Kids are now bused in from Tacoma’s East Side, students show in local galleries, people throng to buy glass at the sales.

But some things remain the same: the way glass equalizes students, the career options it offers, and the relationships built on the hot shop floor that have meant the difference between life success or failure. They’re things attested to not just by the organization’s mission statement, but by the very lives of HART alumni.

GANGS TO GALLERIES

Marcus Martinez isn’t particularly startling at first sight. But the 19-year-old is one of HART’s best success stories: a kid who chose art over gangs and ended up showing at a high-end glass gallery.

“I was getting into trouble. I wasn’t going as much as I should,” says Martinez, of his two years at Lincoln High School. HART teachers, who work closely with the Tacoma School District in everything from finances to locations to student outreach, noticed Martinez’s grades slipping. Finally, he says, he “got in a pretty big fight” – and not for the first time either. HART offered him a place in the Alternative Education program, a single-teacher program at Wilson High School allowing struggling kids to finish school outside the regular classroom while blowing glass.

Two years later, in 2007, Martinez made it to graduation. Out of his original group of friends, he was the only one to do so, and the only one to decide to stay out of a gang. He also applied – via a new HART partnership arrangement – to Tacoma’s Vetri Gallery (the sales wing of Traver Gallery) sending his résumé, portfolio and samples with assistance from HART teachers. Along with another student, Martinez was chosen to exhibit early this year, and his work is on display through August.

He volunteers full-time at HART, has a HART-sponsored scholarship to Pilchuck glass school this summer and plans a career as an artist. HART is helping him with college applications and visits. The backup plan is to own a family restaurant.

Yet HART has done much more than just these major education hurdles, says the soft-spoken Martinez.

“This program has helped me grow into who I am today. It helped me have a better understanding of how the world isn’t always going to come at you the way you expect it to, that things are always changing and you have to adapt to get anywhere.”

GETTING ALONG

For Jessica Hogan, one of the big things about HART is learning how to live with others. Now 25, Hogan went through the HART program in middle and high school mostly because she loved art – “I was a pretty average kid.” After HART scholarships to Pilchuck and degrees at Tacoma Community College and The Evergreen State College, she’s back at HART as production manager for Jason Lee, handling glass commissions and sales, checking on students’ school progress and managing personnel.

Both now and in her own student days, Hogan sees a real mix of kids in HART. “This program takes high-achieving kids, and average kids, and gang kids, and teaches them how to work together,” she says. “It really does connect people.”

Martinez agrees. Although, as he says he’s “quarter black, quarter white and half Mexican,” he would normally have just associated with his small group of friends. “I wouldn’t hang out with a rocker, I wouldn’t be friends with someone that skateboards. Coming here, there’s all kinds of kids. It helped me understand all kinds of cultures.”

GETTING A JOB

Michael Wentworth is as far from a glass artist as you can get. Now 27 years old, he graduated from HART just five years after it began – and straightaway got a job at Red Robin, thanks to Greg Piercy organizing in-school job interviews with corporate managers. The diner job led to other jobs, to project management, and finally to the deckhand position Wentworth holds on a tugboat doing the Alaska run. Along the way he’s bought a house and is trying to work out how he can volunteer in the program “to give back.”

“I was a mid-range student – I definitely had my times, and senior year was pretty rough, but I wasn’t as at-risk as a lot of students,” explains Wentworth, who joined HART while at Jason Lee, just because he and his friends liked blowing glass. “They were good at keeping tabs on us, and helping us stay in school.”

What Wentworth really appreciates from HART, though, is learning a work ethic. “They teach you how to make the conversion from school to working life,” Wentworth says. “I don’t think high school usually teaches you that. And it gave me a good sense of who I am. I still enjoy art a lot, and I’d love to go back to it.”

GLASS CAREER

For Shayne Nutter, HART was the start of a dream career. A glass blower freelancing Tacoma’s hot shops, Nutter, 25, has been a gaffer at Glasshouse Studio in Seattle’s Pioneer Square, the oldest shop in the Northwest. He’s now employed by glass master Bryan Rubino in Shelton and teaches at Tacoma Glassblowing Studios. But, says Nutter, after he joined the HART program while at Jason Lee, it gave him a lot more than just a career in glass.

“I was a bad student – I aced tests but never did homework. I was rowdy, the class clown. HART really helped me focus. It’s very goal-oriented.”

GOOD CHOICES, BAD CHOICES

No program is perfect, of course, and while HART has a higher number of students staying in and attending school, there are ways it could be better. Piercy – now the Jason Lee Hot Shop manager – still feels recruiting kids “on the cusp” is one of the biggest challenges. Plus, says Piercy, “retaining kids who are struggling is hard – they often feel they don’t fit in.” And there have been some kids who’ve gone back to bad choices in their lives, despite the many who haven’t.

What HART graduates and teachers will tell you is the most important thing, however, isn’t just the great track record of retention of students in school. It isn’t graduation, college, jobs or careers, vital though these may be. It’s the long-term value of strong relationships between adults and students that the program makes possible.

“When we’re on the floor blowing glass, we’re not just doing art,” says Martinez. “We’ll be working on the glass but I’ll also say, ‘Did you get your homework done? How was your day so far?’ We’re creating a relationship along with creating glass. And the relationship is very important to make the kids feel special, and help them open up to see if they’re really at risk. I open myself up, let them know about my experiences. I’m trying to lead by example.”

Outreach coordinator Kathy Anderson agrees. “Marcus has developed a rapport with the kids. They talk to him, which is huge,” she says. “We can’t help kids if we don’t know what’s going on in their lives.”

HART alumni such as Martinez and Nutter are quick to point out a single relationship that made all the difference in their school lives. For these two, it was current board president Winn Archambeau-Munoz, who taught at Wilson during their years there.

“If a student gets involved with us at age 12, they’ll be there everyday until they graduate,” adds Piercy. “That allows enough time to really impact what they do, to really help them.”

HART executive director Kit Evans sums it up: “It’s not the program that saves kids, it’s the relationships. Glass is a vehicle for that.”

Rosemary Ponnekanti: 253-597-8568

Where to buy the art

What: Hilltop Artists Spring Glass Sale. One of two Hilltop Artists in Residence Program sales every year, it sells off high-quality student work at bargain prices.

When: 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday. Tickets given out starting at 8 a.m.

Tip: This is a popular secret, so arrive well before 8 a.m. to get in line to get your (free) numbered entry ticket. The lower the ticket number, the sooner you’ll get in and the more choice you’ll have.

Where: Jason Lee Middle School, 602 N. Sprague Ave., Tacoma. Enter rear of school from parking lot.

Admission: Free; all proceeds benefit the tuition-free program.

Information: 253-571-7670, www.hilltopartists.org

Who: Vetri Gallery, showing work of graduate Marcus Martinez and senior Dylan Betz

When: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays, noon-5 p.m. Sundays, through Aug. 10

Where: 1821 E. Dock St., Tacoma

Admission: Free

Information: 253-383-3685

Who: Rebecca V Gallery showing work by HART students

When: Noon-7 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays, noon-8 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays or by appointment, through June 30

Where: 3010 Sixth Ave., Tacoma

Admission: Free

Information: 253-572-9111