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cross the street from the Kalmar Nyckel Shipyard, on the wall of a former warehouse once marred by graffiti, a new mural tells the story of Wilmington’s Seventh Street Peninsula, from the landing of the Swedes on the original Kalmar Nyckel in 1638 through the construction of the replica of the iconic tall ship that makes its home there today. The mural, some 20 feet high and more than 200 feet long, offers glimpses of remarkable stories—the legacy of Swedish and Dutch settlers, the Lenni Lenape tribe, the Underground Railroad, the city’s prominence in shipbuilding and manufacturing railroad cars, and the days when traveling to New Jersey required taking a ferry, not crossing a bridge. “These are inspiring stories, stories that aren’t all well-known,” says Samuel Heed, director of education for the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation, which acquired the warehouse late last year and commissioned the $22,000 mural shortly thereafter. Equally inspiring is the story of how the mural came to be, the work of a fledgling art center called the Creative Vision Factory, whose role is to help individuals with mental health problems and recovering alcohol and substance abusers regain the social and work skills required to be productive members of the community. The 10-member team, all enrolled in the Creative Vision Factory (CVF) program, plus three designers and a handful of volunteers, spent six weeks working on the mural, wrapping up their work in late June. “It brought the people together and it was a cool way to get to know the neighborhood,” says designer Anne Yoncha, a Brandywine High School and University of Delaware graduate who also has volunteered with Philadelphia’s Mural Arts Program. “The act of painting the mural created the gratification, the vindication of their labor. That’s really important for someone who is working, and in recovery — having that encouragement, that daily pat on the back,” says Michael Kalmbach, 33, CVF executive director and himself a recovering addict who has been clean for 11 years.
CVF, established two years ago as part of the state’s agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to improve the number of programs for Delawareans with mental illnesses, is an “open art studio,” an unstructured drop-in program where the mentally ill, substance abusers, the homeless — actually anyone at all — can walk in, have a free cup of coffee, learn about art, develop their skills, and enjoy a welcoming environment. “A place like Creative Vision Factory is almost an alternative treatment,” says Rosanne Faust, an assistant director at the state Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health. “It’s great for people who don’t respond to the normal treatment by social workers.” “I don’t know why, but art is attractive to many people who have mental conditions,” says Kevin Ann Huckshorn, the division director. At CVF, there are no real rules, no attendance requirements, no curriculum that participants are required to complete, Kalmbach says. “It’s open to anybody who wants to use it whenever they want to use it.” And that’s what has made the program attractive enough to have 214 members as of early July, with about 20 people dropping in daily and perhaps 50 showing up at least twice a week, he says. Artistic people like the freedom the program offers, he says, and mentions a former teacher who had been routed into an art therapy rehabilitation program after suffering a stroke and being diagnosed with depression. In that program, the woman was directed to work on specific projects for limited periods of time, but could never concentrate on what she enjoyed. “When she comes here, she gets to work on her landscapes, on her paintings,” Kalmbach says. “At the other place, she felt that she was treated like a child.” In a program like CVF, Huckshorn says, “you’re building trust, you’re building communication, you’re building friendship. The community’s not scary.” With 33 members having participated in a dozen exhibitions in the studio at 617 Shipley St. in the past year, CVF success stories are numerous. ►
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7/24/13 11:54 AM