Yucca Valley-based nonprofit Bezark Productions will launch its mental health coloring book, “Look, See, See and More! Listen with Your Eyes,” at a gala event on June 20 from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Birdcage Comics Café, 165 W. Hospitality Lane, Unit 17, San Bernardino.
The coloring book was created by artists on the emotional-behavioral spectrum as part of a project sponsored by a California Arts Council/Creative Corps grant. Artists including Cathy Dye, Lillian Iskandar, Mia Jett, Erica Mosko, Jeff Pippin, Jeff Pope and Dennis Smith will be at the event to talk about their work, according to a news release.
The event will also feature free coloring books.
Bezerk Productions, located at 56300 29 Palms Highway in Yucca Valley, has been in business since 2001 and started with the original version of Cracked Eggs, an interdisciplinary troupe of people on the emotional-behavioral spectrum, according to a news release.
In 2021, Bezark launched Cracked Eggs again with funding from the Mental Health Services Act (the innovation arm of the San Bernardino County Behavioral Health Department). Bezark hosts twice-weekly workshops at clubhouses and TAY (Transitional Age Youth) centers around the county.
A year ago, Bezerk Productions received a Creative Co-op grant from the California Council on the Arts to fund the creation of a mental health coloring book. The finished book is the result of a year-long grant-funded program that met twice a week at Birdcage Comics Cafe in San Bernardino, the project’s community sponsor.
The program began in October with teacher training, with Linda Sibio, founder of Bezerk Productions, teaching visual arts techniques from her class, “The Madness Principles,” to teach how to work with people with intellectual disabilities. In addition to Sibio, teaching artists include Claudia Butcher, Georgian Dean, Leslie Matamoros, Neil Doshi, Erica Mosco and Jeff Pippin.
Student workshops were held twice a week from November 1st to March 1st, and 100 drawings were selected from the 400 drawings produced during the workshops for the coloring book.
The gala event will feature performances by Erica Mosko and Jeff Pippin and his band, followed by the awards ceremony.
For more information on Bezerk Productions, visit bezerkpro.org.
