A drab retaining wall behind Yale New Haven Psychiatric Hospital (YPH) is being infused with new life by artists who have brought vivid color and limitless imagination to the cement canvas.
On one side of the once-faceless gray wall, purple and red flowers anchored by green stems stand on the edge of a sun-dappled pond, the water disturbed by a deer sipping on the edge. A large brown beaver rests in grass on another section of the facade beneath a sky painted various shades of blue.
The mural project is the work of artists from Vista Life Innovations in Westbrook, an organization which provides programs and services to people with disabilities, including many on the autistic spectrum.
The past chairman of the board of Vista is Robert Ostroff, MD, Co-Medical Director of the hospital’s Interventional Psychiatry Service (IPS). It was his vision to cover the retaining wall with color, and he asked the Vista artists for their creative help.
Tucked between the roughly 18-foot-high wall and lower level of the hospital building is an enclosed space that Ostroff said will become an outdoor waiting area for patients and families after the mural is completed.
“Ultimately, we want to have a courtyard with plantings, tables, (and) a mural for families to relax instead of in our waiting room,” Ostroff said. “This project is a huge step toward that but also provides meaningful work for individuals with disabilities. Clearly a win-win project.”
Work has been halted since temperatures dipped below freezing, but in the late fall the artists visited a couple days a week – a portable space heater in tow – to begin bringing the wall to life, one section at a time.
The surface was painted white first, and then the artists used rollers to drape it in blue, with darker shades toward the top. Then, using bright colors of special mural paint, they spread out to cover the wall with images found outdoors, like animals, water, and vegetation.
This project is a huge step toward that but also provides meaningful work for individuals with disabilities. Clearly a win-win project.
Robert Ostroff
Samantha Listorti, Artistic Program Coordinator for Vista, said painting is a form of therapy for the artists.
“It creates a space where they can connect with each other,” she said. “There’s a lot of time for them to socialize, to talk with each other about art. It’s a lot of work, but they’re enjoying it.”
Ostroff had seen other large murals created by Vista artists while at a fundraiser in Manhattan, so he spoke to Listorti about the project at YPH.
He said he had been looking for an artist who could transform the space so patients and their families could relax outside while waiting for their appointments at IPS.
That transformation will be completed in the spring, after the weather turns warm again and the artists return to add even more color and creativity to the space.
“I feel like nature cheers people up,” Listorti said. “And they’ve done a really beautiful job with this.”