CAMARILLO : Patients’ Artwork on Display at Bank

Alan’s mental disability was so severe that Jeff Cheney, the art therapist at Camarillo State Hospital, wondered if Alan would be able to handle a paintbrush.

Just holding a pencil was a great struggle for the 28-year-old patient, and his speech was barely recognizable, Cheney said. Hospital officials asked that Alan and other patients not be identified by full name.

But Alan wanted to paint a picture of Mickey Mouse in the hospital’s Fine Arts Discovery Program, and so Cheney and volunteer art therapist Leslie Hara supplied Alan with a canvas, brush and paint.

The results were startling.

Against an aquamarine background, Alan painted an undulating figure of Mickey Mouse, with one bright color bleeding into the next.

The finished painting, “Rainy Day Mickey,” was a revelation, Cheney said.

“The painting revealed Alan to be a much richer individual than might be apparent on the surface,” Cheney said. “It was a great accomplishment.”

“Rainy Day Mickey” is one of 30 paintings by mentally and emotionally impaired patients at Camarillo State Hospital that will be on display at the Camarillo branch of Ventura County National Bank until March 2.

The works by 29 patients from 12 to 46 years old capture their feelings in a riot of primary colors, revealing a freedom of expression that Cheney said more polished artists sometimes lose.

“A lot of people with master’s degrees in fine art are so highly trained they lose that immediacy and the emotional contact with their work,” said Cheney, who started Camarillo’s art therapy program six years ago.

Pat Richards, the bank representative who helped arrange the show, marveled at the creativity displayed by the patients.

“If these were in $300 frames and in a trendy gallery in L.A., they would be worth thousands and be a big show,” Richards said.

Many of the patients who try their hand at art come from abused backgrounds, and they find a great sense of freedom in the studio, Hara said.

“All the restraints are gone when they are there,” she said. “They find a lot of love and a lot of music and are free to express whatever they want.”

The paintings at the bank are for sale, with a portion of the proceeds going to the artists and the rest to the hospital’s art program. The bank is at 502 N. Las Posas Road.