Setting It Straight: Jean Holsten was identified as both Holsten and Holden in a Bob Sylva column July 9 on Metro Page B1. Holsten is correct.

The Spirit in the Arts Center opened nine months ago in donated space atop the United Methodist Church, a battered, bleached white, yet still dignified building at 650 El Camino Ave., in North Sacramento.

The program, privately funded, offers workshops in painting, music, cooking, even singing. It was started by Jean Holden, 46, a former attorney, who, urged by her own nagging spirit, abandoned a career in environmental law. "I am absolutely committed to making the world a better place," Holden says. Law was not the answer. She believes art is.

"We're trying to honor the intersection of spirituality and creativity," Holden says. "Our thinking is if we can tap into those forces there can be powerful benefits. Art is a safe place to connect. Everybody has sacred worth and value. That's our thinking."

Well, it's a nice thought.

Tonight, Second Saturday, from 6 to 9 p.m., at Masonic Lodge, 1803 Del Paso Blvd., a sampling of that "intersection" will be on display. There will be mosaics by Mary Dignan, a former lawyer, who is hearing impaired and legally blind, who was once struck by a train. Her amazing story of vision and survival once made the front page of this newspaper.

There will be drawings by a person named Whiteshoes and music by Lonnie Smith, who conducts jam sessions here with musicians down on their luck from Loaves & Fishes. Lonnie can rock. Should be fun.

Michelle Ramsey will also be there. She is not an artist, per se. But has an incandescent spirit. And an interesting story. "I've met many people in life with Michelle's experiences," Holsten says. "Those experiences can either save or destroy you."

Now, on a warm afternoon, Michelle Ramsey sits as cool as can be in the upstairs gallery at Spirit in the Arts. Her arrival here is either fortuitous or divine. "I was driving home two weeks ago," she says. "I took a wrong turn. And I ended up here."

Ramsey is 27 years old. She has dark eyes, a crinkly plume of brown hair parted in two, the lithe figure and stylish appearance of a fashion model. She is poised, personable, exhaustively articulate.

Biracial, she was raised in Natomas by her caring grandparents, good ol' folks from Appalachia. She grew up on bluegrass and playing banjo. She loved to write. And had plenty to write about. She never knew her father; her mother was lost to the streets. Her cultural confusion was one of several obstacles.

"I was a loner," she says. "I had identity issues. I was always looking for direction." For a time there, she seemed headed down her mother's path.

She got pregnant at 16. Was on welfare. She moved out into a cheap apartment. Still, she managed to graduate from San Juan High School. There, in saving grace, she met Kennard Harris, senior class president, a bright, African-American boy from a good family in Citrus Heights, who was everything Ramsey wasn't.

"No," she cries, laughing. "I wasn't the ideal daughter-in-law. But, hey, look at me! I have a lot of awesome qualities." No arguments there.

Today, the two live with Ramsey's now 10-year-old son in an apartment in North Sacramento. Harris works as a pharmacy technician at Sutter Cancer Center. He is also an aspiring ceramist, who tosses clay in a studio garage. His work, too, will be on exhibit this evening. Ramsey is his biggest fan.

For her part, Michelle Ramsey is still looking for direction, a greater purpose and meaning in life.

Since coming to the Spirit in the Arts Center, she has never left. She has appointed herself its marketing director. She has visited all the businesses along Del Paso Boulevard, handing out brochures. She's trying to drum up support. She is a dynamo of energy. If only she had a salary.

"Hey, we're here," she says. "We have a lot of great things to offer. We want to help you find your spirit. To help you communicate through art."

Her own bright spirit is a work in progress.

About the writer:
Bob Sylva's column appears Saturday in Metro.
Reach him at (916)321-1135 or bsylva@sacbee.com.
Back columns: www.sacbee.com/sylva.