Transitions-Mental Health Association (T-MHA) is a local nonprofit agency that works toward eliminating the stigma surrounding mental illness while helping recovering locals achieve wellness through a variety of programs. Growing Grounds Gallery and Gifts in Santa Maria is the most recent iteration of the organization’s efforts to provide work, stability, and a creative outlet for those recovering from mental illnesses.
The annual Art of Recovery show and sale represents the collected efforts of T-MHA beneficiaries from across the Central Coast, including artists in Lompoc, SLO, and Santa Maria. The exhibit meets at the Growing Grounds Gallery this year from May 13 through 16 and May 20 through 23, with the sales from each piece benefiting both T-MHA and the artist.
The show is a tribute to both the gallery and the Growing Grounds Farm located off Foster Road in Orcutt. The acrylic painting Transitions’ Landscape by Charles Huffines depicts the two locations together, though they are literally separated by several miles, as a tribute to what both locations provide, Huffines explained.
“I’ve been a member of T-MHA for years and this, for me, is a dedication to what T-MHA does,” he said. “They help people get wellness and recovery to the best of their abilities.”
The Art of Recovery show includes more than 50 artists, most of whom contributed three original works, from paintings to sculptures. The artists will all come together on May 16 from 4 to 7 p.m. for a reception including the show’s unveiling and live music on the gallery’s piano by Tom Mutchler.
The exhibit falls in line with T-MHA’s mission by informing locals about community members recovering from mental illnesses, explained Frank Ricceri, the nonprofit’s associate director.
“This is really to share with the community the creativity and capabilities of people who have struggled,” he said. “It’s a showcase; it’s to educate; it’s to help people feel good, and they get to sell their art.”
T-MHA members run the gamut as far as their life experiences and preferred media. One member, Brendalee Montoya, who works the front desk at the Growing Grounds Gallery in Santa Maria, creates a variety of jewelry that’s available for sale in the gallery. For the Art of Recovery Show, however, she embarked into new territory and created some watercolor paintings.
“All of this has been new for me,” she said. “It’s about me coming out from being a recovering addict, a single mother worrying about the bills by myself, and here I feel like I am in a family, that I am in a realm with people who understand me where I can be myself.
“I feel comfortable here, to where I can do jewelry or paintings, or maybe I will try something new for next year, like crocheting or something.”
Members of T-MHA aren’t limited to just selling artwork, explained Growing Grounds Gallery crew leader Robert Silverman, who claims no artistic persuasion, only a desire to help and work at the gallery with the people who show and sell there.
Silverman suffered from agoraphobia, he explained, and didn’t leave his house in Santa Maria for more than four years. Working as crew leader at the Growing Grounds Gallery was and is essential in his path to recovery.
“T-MHA took a chance on me when nobody else would give me that opportunity, and now I have a purpose for getting up in the morning,” he said. “The agoraphobia has dissipated because I know I am making difference.”
Silverman helps organize art for the gallery as well as the Art of Recovery show. Artwork not sold during the temporary exhibit, he explained, can be included in the gallery’s regular collection of art for sale. He also enjoys sharing each artist’s excitement when he tells him or her a piece has sold.
“Part of my job is to welcome people that have something to offer but nobody really wants to pay attention to them,” he said. “And if need be, if they are agoraphobic like me, I will go to their homes and pick up their art myself.”
Part of T-MHA’s genius lies in the fact that it brings so many people together, and they can share creativity or just their experiences in a safe environment. For artists like Montoya and Huffines, and employees like Silverman, it’s the togetherness that becomes an invaluable part of their recovery.
Sharing the fruits of their creative efforts collectively also gives members a huge boost, explained Huffines, who enjoys other people’s artwork as much as creating and showing his own, he explained.
“It helps people get their dignity back,” he said. “No matter what you go through, no matter what kind of therapy you are getting, the camaraderie of people, the work you put in—whether painting, music, writing poetry, anything—it’s the best medicine there is.”
Arts Editor Joe Payne knows art is good medicine. Contact him at jpayne@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in May 14-21, 2015.