Art of reaching out

Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2006 | 7:26 a.m.

A few years ago, a visiting artist at Opportunity Village's Oakey campus supplied the clients - as they are known to staff - with paint brushes, then spread out a canvas.

The result was an artistic free-for-all, a pile-on. The "happiest place on Earth," where handshakes, hugs and friendly greetings from clients are frequent, just got happier.

The desire for artistic expression, it seemed, was overwhelming.

It was an eye-opener for staff.

But the nonprofit Opportunity Village needed to stay on track. Its employment training opened doors for thousands of mentally disabled Southern Nevadans. An arts program would have to go on its wish list.

This year with work-training programs, employment and recreational services running smoothly and a third campus on its way, the organization finally launched its arts and enrichment program.

Clients are learning the basics of visual arts, music and theater. Gallery exhibits are being planned for its thrift store on Main Street. There is talk of an Opportunity Village band and of a cottage industry making decorative sculpture.

"People who would previously sit and rock are now doing papier-mache and singing songs," says Jeffrey Kauffman, who came from Bethesda, Md., to start the art and enrichment program at Opportunity Village. "Exposure to the arts provides a means of expression beyond verbal communications, making a statement that you otherwise can't make verbally."

A nonverbal client named Howard had a history of behavior problems and a reputation for flipping tables. Lately he's preoccupied with making yarn and textile collages.

"People don't really get to know him," says Laura Clemons, day-activities supervisor at Opportunity Village. "They just assume that because he's nonverbal he has nothing to say, but he has a lot to say. He's very creative."

Looking at Howard, who is standing motionless next to his work, Clemons says, "This is one way he stays calm."

Jennifer Sawchuck, 23, a candidate for the sculpture program, in which an artist donated 170 molds, says that art relieves her stress: "If I have a bad day and I don't understand why I'm in here (working), it helps calm me down."

Tired of stuffing envelopes and other assembly work, she says, "I get frustrated because I get bored, and when I get bored, I don't know how to tell myself, 'Just do it. You'll be fine until next week.'

"I used to take off down the street running."

Sawchuck has worked in watercolors, oil pastels, charcoal and gouache, but pottery is her favorite medium.

The art program will give her the attention that she needs and will allow her to express herself, she says. "If you look at my pictures now, you can see how much I express myself. In here, I'm so happy. I don't have an attitude behavior problem."

Walls are covered with work by Sawchuck and other artists, including Jeremy Strong, who is getting a lot of attention since selling one of his paintings a month ago.

"His early works were sort of boxlike and closed," Kauffman says, looking at Strong's work. "Now he's starting to open it up. We knew with painting that he was onto something he really loves."

Kauffman says he'd like to see art as a lucrative moneymaking program for the clients, who pride themselves on their paychecks.

RC Wonderly, an instructor and artist who moved to Las Vegas from Ohio to work before returning to graduate school, says his work has so far been a process of learning who the clients are and what they can do: "Right now, I just want to work with the group. Not much one-on-one. Once we get them going, I'll want to try to step up the level of the final process."

Opportunity Village is looking to model its program after Creative Growth Arts Center in Oakland, Calif., one of the first arts programs in the country to serve developmentally disabled people. Its 140 clients work in fiber, textiles, paints and watercolors. Superstars, such as San Francisco artist Donald Mitchell, whose work has gained international attention and is featured in books, and fiber artist Judy Scott, rose from the program.

Scott, who passed away last year, arrived at Creative Growth in the 1980s. She was deaf, mute, had Downs syndrome and didn't respond to any education attempts. "She was just sitting there," says Jordan De- Staebler, Creative Growth's client services coordinator. "Instructors didn't know what to do; so they brought her some yarn and it just took off. She had a very active mind."

Her art, he says, "gave her a place to be. It gave her acknowledgement. She went to shows of her work. She was just out and about."

The idea, DeStaebler says, is to "enable individuals to be participants as much as possible in society but to understand that there are limitations to that."

DeStaebler says a slow but steady momentum toward arts programs for the developmentally disabled is building. International film crews have visited the facilities, and the executive director has been starting galleries all over the world. Client shows in Miami, Chicago and New York have sold out.

Another arts program that serves people who have developmental disabilities is the Washington, D.C.-based VSA. It has affiliates in 47 states and in 60 countries.

"We encourage people with disabilities to participate in the arts, and we encourage them to pursue a lifelong career in it," says Marcia Rhodes, spokeswoman for VSA.

While VSA is funded by the Department of Education and Creative Growth mostly by state and federal funds - 25 percent of its funding comes from art sales - Opportunity Village receives very little in government funding. Its annual budget for serving 3,000 families a year is $17.5 million. Eighty percent of that comes from fundraising, thrift store sales and work contracts. Its annual holiday Magical Forest event pays for its Project Pride program, which services seriously disabled citizens and allows respite for their family members.

The organization has a waiting list that grows with the valley's growth.

"We've always wanted to provide as many opportunities as we can," Linda Smith, chief development officer at Opportunity Village, says. The art program, she explains, "provides something other than going to work and watching television."

A capital campaign was recently launched for its third campus, which will include a gallery, studio space and a performing arts center. Smith is hoping that sales from art exhibits will help fund the arts and enrichment program. Staff members are looking to the arts and entertainment community for volunteers who could offer insight and direction.

On a recent Friday, Wonderly was walking the art room at Opportunity Village. He passed each client slowly and held up a copy of the children's book "Where the Wild Things Are" and discussed its characters.

Some watched quietly. Others clapped, broke into laughter or hollered in excitement. They may not fully understand yet, but this book will be their first play.

How will they do?

"I can't wait to see," Kauffman says. "We think a lot of the folks are going to just take to it. One of the clients put on a mask, and he was a different person. He made a name up for himself and just came alive."

Andy Vieluf, a former Strip musician who works with the clients, says it's all about patience. "Most of them don't talk because they can't, but they listen and you hope they can comprehend."

The process, he says, has gone from "Wow, this is taking forever" to "Wow, in a week someone learned to make a strum."

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