Breakthrough H’Art

Breakthrough H’Art is an art collaborative formed to encourage and facilitate healing through creative expression. The program provides an opportunity to share resources and provide a community platform to express successes dealing with mental health challenges. Breakthrough H’Art is funded in part by Interim, Inc., donations, grants and through the sale of artwork at events and shows.

Since 2004, the group has supported those with mental illness as they create, share, and connect with others who are going through a transition toward health and recovery.  Some of the artists have moved from the streets and are now housed by MCHOME, a collaborative program of Interim and Monterey County Behavioral Health.

Twice a week, at Interim’s Shelter Cove in Marina, Breakthrough H’Art offers classes to artists who travel from as far as Carmel to work in a variety of mediums, from charcoal to oil and acrylic painting, to simple doodling. No matter what the medium, all of the artists share the common bond of art and use their talents for healing and self-expression.

Breakthrough H’Art holds art shows and sales approximately every six weeks. At one recent show, the artists were joined by our Breakthrough H’Art Singers. One of Interim’s clients single-handedly produced the musical event!

Breakthrough H’Art is currently coordinating two public-art mosaic projects. The first mosaic will be displayed at Interim’s Shelter Cove. The second will be created for the Monterey-Salinas Transit Center in Salinas. The mosaics will be created by clients on the path of mental health recovery and by the homeless men and women currently living in Chinatown (Salinas) and led by one of the Breakthrough H’Artists.

Breakthrough H’Art not only helps its clients find a healing pathway using art, it also helps to break down the stigma that is associated with mental illness by educating the public and promoting an awareness of mental illness and recovery.

Breakthrough H’Art has also launched a website to showcase its artwork and has created a series of greeting cards it hopes to sell to support consumers and the program.

 The Mosaic Project

Interim, Inc has been working in collaboration with the At Risk Gallery on Soledad Street in Salinas to create mosaics. Together, adults recovering from mental health challenges and adults struggling to find permanent housing come together and build mosaics and build wellness and healing. The group has created the Sunflower Mosaics that are displayed at Sunflower Gardens and have recently completed a 9 foot by 3 foot mosaic of China Cove at Point Lobos that is displayed at Shelter Cove. This group of artists has now taken on their most challenging task of building a 5-foot by 3-foot mosaic for the Monterey Salinas Transit Center in Salinas.  

 

Donations Needed

Like most “struggling artists,” the group needs more materials! Your donations of art supplies – picture frames, paints, canvases, beads, sketch pads, crayons, colored pencils, just to name a few – can make a difference. Just call 831.649.4522 to arrange a donation.