{"id":892606,"date":"2026-10-24T03:12:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-24T03:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/892606\/"},"modified":"2026-10-24T03:12:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T03:12:16","slug":"st-vincent-de-pauls-painting-class-gives-eurekas-unhoused-residents-an-opportunity-to-shine-lost-coast-outpost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/892606\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Vincent de Paul\u2019s Painting Class Gives Eureka\u2019s Unhoused Residents an \u2018Opportunity to Shine\u2019 | Lost Coast Outpost"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Lance, a frequenter of the Art for the Heart class at St. Vincent de Paul\u2019s in Eureka, carefully works on his latest painting. | Photos by Isabella Vanderheiden.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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On a recent rainy afternoon at St. Vincent de Paul\u2019s dining facility in Eureka, a small group of artists hunch over tables cluttered with art supplies, homemade almond cookies and half-finished paintings. The laughter of Free Meal volunteers and Elton John\u2019s Billy Joel\u2019s \u201cPiano Man\u201d fills the room as the painters quietly bring their creations to life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m working on an ocean scene,\u201d Lance explains as he smudges cobalt blue paint into a dark cloud. \u201cThis time I\u2019ve decided to do a nighttime scene. I\u2019m gonna have a lighthouse, and I\u2019m gonna try my best to put some lighting in it. I\u2019m trying to figure out how to describe wind; maybe I\u2019ll put a tree in there blowing to one side or something.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another painter, Fridom, is working on a piece with two pale yellow orchids against a multi-hued blue backdrop. He plans to add orange metallic lines throughout to \u201cgive it a graphic look.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m doing another panel with a large red flower and stylized ocean waves in the back,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n


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Fridom fills in the blue background of his orchid painting.<\/p>\n

The workshop, Art for the Heart<\/a>, is led by Maureen McGarry, a longtime watercolorist and painting instructor who, in her retirement, started teaching art classes for survivors of sexual assault and people experiencing homelessness. She\u2019s been teaching the painting workshop at St. Vinny\u2019s for the last six months. The class is typically held outside, but they take it inside on rainy days. Several pieces, all painted on donated wood panels, are already on display along the chain link fence across Third Street. <\/p>\n

McGarry hopes that the art display will discourage graffiti and \u201clift up the neighborhood,\u201d but more than anything, she wants to provide a space for people to express themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I\u2019m out here with these folks, they\u2019re so focused and they get into this almost meditative state when they\u2019re here with the paints,\u201d she says. \u201cThey get to travel into their paintings and into another state of mind. I really love that aspect of it. What we\u2019re providing here is an opportunity for people to be creative and express themselves in a peaceful way, and what we\u2019re getting are all these peaceful, euphoric, sublime images. \u2026 I like that it gives their personalities an opportunity to shine because this is where they hang out and get their one meal for the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pointing to one of Lance\u2019s pieces, McGarry says, \u201cWe call these \u2018Lance-scapes\u2019 because they\u2019re of his imagination. He doesn\u2019t have to worry about realism or copying a photograph. He sees these images in his head, and he paints several layers \u2014 they\u2019re always changing.\u201d<\/p>\n


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A \u201cLance-scape\u201d affixed to the fence across the street from St. Vincent de Paul\u2019s.<\/p>\n

The class has given McGarry a new perspective on Eureka\u2019s unhoused community. She acknowledges the stigma surrounding homelessness and fears other residents may have about visiting the St. Vinny\u2019s neighborhood where many people camp, but hopes the art display will help change that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of stigma that causes people to be afraid of stay away from here; I felt that at one time too,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s cool to be literally on the street with them doing street art because it kind of takes away that stigma, you know? They\u2019re just people making art, and they have ideas and thoughts and feelings the same as everybody else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Similarly, Lance says the art class gives unhoused residents like himself a new community and \u201csomething to show off.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea is to let the people who live around here \u2014 the residentially challenged, as I call them \u2014 see something productive going on and want to be a part of it,\u201d he says. \u201cIt gives them actual ownership of something and instills pride in the area. \u2026 It gives those who are out here on the street an actual door to go through, a window to open, a bridge to actually cross to allow positive interactions with not just each other, but with you know members of the city.\u201d<\/p>\n


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Another \u201cLance-scape\u201d on display.<\/p>\n

Hannah Ozanian, Uplift Eureka\u2019s social services coordinator, underscored the need for innovative solutions to effectively address the city\u2019s homelessness crisis, but hopes the Third Street paintings provide \u201ca little lovely blip of something amongst some of the sadness and hard times.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to envision real solutions,\u201d Ozanian says. \u201cOn a personal level, I think [this art class] is a good practice for our folks who have faced tremendous obstacles, and it\u2019s a good practice for us on a community level. If we can change the way that our landscape \u2014 in this case, this fence line \u2014 looks, what else can we do? It seems minor, but it is major.\u201d<\/p>\n

Laura Montagna, a homeless liaison for the Eureka Police Department\u2019s Community Safety Engagement Team (CSET), donated the wood panels and a few other supplies for the project. She recalls that when the boards were being primed after Free Meal when the class first started, it piqued people\u2019s interest.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was so awesome to see other people like, \u2018Oh, what\u2019s happening here? Can I paint something?\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cThat\u2019s it for me. That made my month, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n

Up until a couple of months ago, the stretch of sidewalk below the art display was cluttered with tents. Montagna says EPD officers cleared the encampment after the department started receiving reports of people being victimized. EPD subsequently increased patrols along Third Street to discourage people from camping on the sidewalk.<\/p>\n

The property behind the art display will one day host the Humboldt Navigation Center<\/a>, a resource center offering access to shelter, affordable housing options, public health benefits, job training and mental health support. When the navigation center was first proposed in 2023, city and county staff expected it would be fully built out by mid-2025<\/a>, but the project hit a funding snag and was delayed. The project is still making its way through the city\u2019s permitting process.<\/p>\n

The art display will be up as long as the fence stands and the primer holds, Ozanian says. \u201cWe know they\u2019re temporary, but we want them to last as long as they can outside.\u201d<\/p>\n

The art class is always in need of art supplies and funding. Those interested in donating may do so at this link<\/a>. Keep scrolling for more photos of the Third Street art display.<\/p>\n

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