VENTURA : Mural on Livery Arts Center Wall to Be Dedicated Today

Artists brushed the final dabs of color Thursday onto a giant mural that brings life to the outer brick wall of the Livery Arts Center in Ventura.

But this wasn’t any ordinary work of art: Nine adults with mental disabilities teamed up with two professional artists during the last two months to transform the wall.

The 1,800-square-foot mural will be dedicated to the community during a ceremony from 5 to 7 p.m. today. North Palm Street will be closed for the event, which includes entertainment.

The mural, called “The Arts Are in Reach of All,” depicts a man blowing bubbles across the wall, each bubble containing a vignette about Ventura’s culture and history--the mission, the pier, fish, a surfer, Chumash Indians, a strawberry field. Some are more obscure, such as a horse on a computer, linking the present and the past.

The Ventura-based Turning Point Foundation, which provides recreational, educational and social services for the mentally ill, was behind the project.

For Michael D. Stephenson, 40, the work was more than just something to fill the time. “I feel good” about participating in something so many people will see, he said. “You can say, ‘Hey, I did that.’ ”

Not only did he and others from Turning Point feel a sense of accomplishment and teamwork, but they got paid for their efforts. They earned slightly more than minimum wage, thanks to a $2,000 grant from the Achille Levy Foundation and a matching grant from the city’s Community Art Outreach Program.

Professional artists M. B. Hanrahan and Michele Chapin supervised the project, first holding drawing workshops for the Turning Point clients and then taking them on field trips to see other murals.

Hanrahan and Chapin helped them come up with the images they wanted to portray in the mural, then Hanrahan wove the images into a design that stretches 115 feet in length and 20 feet at its highest point.

The artists chalked the design on the wall, and the clients’ job was to fill in the colors.

“Some of these people were actually very good artists,” said Hanrahan.