NEIGHBORS / SHORT TAKES : Out of the Garret : County workers display their hidden talents at a Government Center art show through Jan. 28.

So you think you know your co-workers pretty well. You see them every day. You know their 9-to-5 routine about as well as you know your own. You think that you’ve got them pretty well pegged.

But what are your office pals up to before 9 and after 5? What goes on when they’re off the clock and behind closed doors?

Some local workers exposed a little of their “other” side recently when they entered the 1992 County Employee Art Exhibit. Yes, these folks, many of whom work right there within the confines of the County Government Center in Ventura, are closet artists.

“They actually have a life,” exhibit organizer Sandra Sanders said. “They don’t fold up in their drawers at night.”

The best of the artwork is on display in the County Government Center’s Hall of Justice and Administration Building through Jan. 28. Awards will be presented for the Best of Show and the best work in six categories at the Board of Supervisors’ meeting Tuesday.

We thought that you might like to meet several of the artists.

Jeff Clark, auto service worker (he does maintenance and repairs on county vehicles), first place in the drawing category:

Considering Clark’s interest in cars, it’s hardly surprising that the drawing he entered in the competition featured one. Of course, it was being driven by a tomato, but more about that later. (The piece is titled “Red Hot Tomato.”)

Clark said only a select group of co-workers knew about his artistic ability before the exhibit. His supervisor not only knew about those talents, however, but has utilized them from time to time.

“He has a hobby where he builds antique cars,” Clark said of his supervisor. “Sometimes he wants to envision a car before he begins the project.” So Clark draws the car in advance.

So what’s the story behind the veggie-driven car? Clark said he did the drawing for an art class he took at Ventura College. “I just decided to have some fun,” he said. “What’s more fun than drawing a tomato driving a car? You don’t see that every day.”

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Amparo Goodenough, eligibility officer for the county welfare office in Santa Paula, first place in the “mixed/other” category:

First things first. Yes, Goodenough was good enough.

The Fillmore resident, who may be better known in the local art community as Amparo Jacobsen, has had some formal art training. “I had life drawing. That was my forte for a while,” she said. “I had sculpture and pottery. I’ve done everything, basically. Then I found etching was my cup of tea.”

It was her etching of a weary-looking lion, titled “Not Tonight,” that won her the contest honor. (Goodenough, by the way, wasn’t anxious to explain the title of the piece.)

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Jeneva Scharf, social worker with Children’s Protective Services, first place in the sculpture category:

A look at Scharf’s alabaster swan might suggest extensive sculpture training. But that’s not the case. Scharf has taken all of one, yes one, sculpture class--at Ventura College last semester.

“I think I have a pretty good eye, but there’s so much I need to know,” said the Ventura resident, a former actress, mime and clown. “When you work with a rock, if you hit it wrong. . . . You just hope it doesn’t break after you’ve put in 100 hours on the bloody piece.”

Scharf said sculpting, for her, is strictly a hobby, and a sometimes exhausting one. “It is work. I get into it and I sweat,” she said. “I love it. I just love it. It’s not like a job where you think ‘I can’t stand another 10 hours of this.’ Sometimes I can’t stop.”

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Gerald Natal, library tech (he operates the bookmobile in Saticoy and works at the Fillmore Library), best of show for a pencil drawing:

Natal’s entry into the art competition probably came as no shock to his friends at the library. His secret artistic identity was revealed during last year’s Ventura County Fair, when he collected 13 awards--most of them first-place honors--in various amateur art categories. He plans to enter the professional category at the 1993 fair.

“After the fair, I had some people come and buy some stuff,” he said. “I guess I’m a pro now.” Then again, that’s what he had in mind when he got his bachelor of arts degree in art, majoring in watercolors, from Bowling Green State University in Ohio.

The piece that earned Natal the best of show recognition, a drawing of an elderly woman, is titled “Ida Mae.” So who is Ida Mae?

“An eccentric old lady I knew back when I was in school,” Natal said. “She was real flamboyant. In her 70s or 80s and she was going to college just like the rest of us. She wore wild hats, furs, jewelry. She was just this wild and crazy person.”

Natal said he sketched the woman during class one day in 1976 or 1977. The artwork was still in his family’s possession so he decided to enter it in the show. “I don’t even know if she’s still alive, to tell the truth,” he said of Ida Mae. “I don’t even remember her name. I just made it up. She looked like an Ida Mae.”