Ashland artist Sarah Bernard created a work that embodies the homeless-services nonprofit’s ideals of regrowth, renewal and transformation
By Art Van Kraft for Ashland.news
An Ashland artist was given a chance to paint a special mural, one that might help those who are in need.
With a mandate to “engage and possibly lighten the load of the people passing beside it,” muralist Sarah Bernard began what would become a four-month project painting a mural on a dining room wall at a homeless shelter in Ashland. The kitchen, brightened by the mural, was opened in May.
The board of OHRA, Opportunities for Housing, Resources & Assistance, offered the project to Bernard. The nonprofit organization feeds and houses homeless people at its facility in Ashland.
Bernard said she jumped at the chance.
“The mural became of my most meaningful projects. That experience allowed me to contribute beauty to a place where people are working hard to rebuild their lives,” she said.
Visual inspiration
When the OHRA board approached her, Bernard said, she was given a list of words for inspiration to create a visual for the dining area: regrowth, abundance, renewal, transformation.
“I find joy in bringing art into public spaces, where it can uplift and connect people,” she said. “The (OHRA) experience allowed me to contribute beauty to a place where people are working hard to rebuild their lives.”
The mural covers the wall where people line up for meals. Hopefully it can help “lighten the load” of those who pass beside it, the artist said.
“The board wanted the mural to somewhat resemble the Rogue Valley. The OHRA leaders asked me to include monarch butterflies — they symbolize chrysalises — going in one way and coming out another,” she said.
Second chances
Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotic Anonymous meetings also convene in the dining room. Bernard said she hopes the mural can somehow represent a second chance.
“Getting a second chance to change their lives is the foundation of the facility and the theme of the mural. With hope and encouragement and beauty, people here can change.” she said. “They can focus on some part of the mural they like instead of looking at a blank wall.”
The artist described her inspiration as a personal journey she has seen others close to her take.
Kamryn Bolek, OHRA head cook, who says she specializes in country cooking, had a ringside seat as mural took shape.
“Every time I would see Sarah working on this I would stop and talk to her and we would ask about the little details,” Bolek said. “Every step of the way I got to see her process, what was going on in her mind. It was fun.”
“When they’re standing in line I watch their faces and they just look up and view it all. Most of the regulars are used to the mural, but when we get the new ones come in, they really just eye the whole thing,” Bolek said.
Beautiful art and music
“It sets this environment here with a type of happiness. One of the staff plays his guitar all through dinner. So the beautiful mural and beautiful music add an atmosphere here that is special.”
Bolek said dinner is available every evening to those in need. She said the kitchen serves 50 to 100 guests on any given evening. She added that cooks prepare extra food to ensure leftovers can be heated and served to anyone who comes to the resource center hungry.
The OHRA location at 2350 Ashland St. is only 4 years old. Yet it has established itself as one of the largest social services resource hubs in the region.
According to the staff, the shelter’s 52 rooms are always full, with a waitlist of around 70 or more. The waitlist has remained fairly constant since the doors opened in April 2021.
Art Van Kraft is an artist living in Ashland and a former broadcast journalist and news director of a Los Angeles-area National Public Radio affiliate. Email him at ar[email protected].
