Charles Mooneyham has been healed by art time and again.
The Alton, Illinois, behavioral health clinician and artist was inspired by his own experiences at the intersection of those two subjects to launch Alton Art Expo, a new event with a mission to uplift local artists while benefiting mental health care causes in the metro area. The Alton Art Expo will be held on March 29 and 30 at the historic Milton Schoolhouse (1320 Milton, Alton, Illinois) and will benefit Centerstone, a full-service mental health and substance use disorder nonprofit health system. The event will run from noon—7 p.m. Saturday and from noon—5 p.m. Sunday.
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The Background
With a family history of suicide and as an attempt survivor himself, Mooneyham spent 17 years working in behavioral health, helping and counseling others who were struggling. “Working for [the same suicide hotline that saved me], it was like my life coming full circle,” he says.
The mental health crisis brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, however, was a new level of stress. Spending 12–13 hours per day communicating with people who were struggling, some of whom were in the middle of active attempts, led Mooneyham to return to an old coping mechanism: painting.
“America is struggling a lot more than we would even begin to think,” he says. “In the pandemic, they grossly underestimated the call volume—it was through the roof. It was a lot of stress, so I started painting again.”
Mooneyham stepped away from working the hotline to focus on his own health and art. What started as a return to his “hippie” roots turned into an area success story, one in which Mooneyham’s work started to be featured at St. Louis art shows and populate Missouri and Illinois galleries. “That’s all good and well, but still, I feel this need to help and to give back. That drive never leaves you,” Mooneyham explains.
He had experienced several successful past art shows that had a philanthropic element, so he reached out to Centerstone to gauge interest in an art expo that would raise both monetary and essential goods donations for the nonprofit. Together, with his co-organizer—Stephen Scordias, resident artist at Mooneyham Art (Mooneyham’s studio within The Milton Schoolhouse) and the owner of ScorART—the idea for Alton Art Expo became more fully formed.
“What we’re trying to do is produce an art fair with a purpose,” Mooneyham says.
The duo, which has worked together for 30-something years, explains that Alton has a thriving underground art scene to which they wanted to draw attention. Also important to the event’s curators was that every dollar for the sale of the art goes directly to the artists, while the door donations—from money to canned goods to pet food to clothing and hygiene products—benefit people with behavioral health issues in the Alton area specifically.
The Inspiration
The driving force behind the event, both Mooneyham and Scordias agree, is the idea that art offers multiple shades of wellness. “Often, people who end up in the creative field are people who are carrying some level of trauma themselves,” Mooneyham says. “This outlet, this artwork had become their means of expression, of coping and moving forward. With this art fair, I’m really wanting to highlight that art is healing, both to the people viewing it and to the people making it.”
Mooneyham cites art-based therapy techniques—such as using fine-motor activities to reduce PTSD, anxiety, and depression symptoms, utilizing paced breathing to calm the nervous system, and creating functional coping mechanism easily accessible in daily life—as forms of wellness that creative pursuits can supply.
Scordias, who spent 20 years working in administration in the higher education field, agrees: “There’s this meditation, this therapeutic element, while you’re creating. And there’s the way art changes the space you’re in; I’ve seen art transform places. And there’s the community aspect to an event like this: People can find freedom from their struggle in the idea that we’re all here together. We want to create a space where it’s all OK and you can find a resource that helps you on your path.”
Centerstone was a perfect fit for the event, as it offers many of the resources that Mooneyham and Scordias say are major needs for people struggling with mental and behavioral health issues. “Centerstone has a holistic wraparound approach where they’re just not being reactive to symptoms; they’re also looking at barrier removal and what is causing the actual problems here: Is it you can’t pay your electric bill? Is your house needing repairs? Do you need food, or do you need counseling or therapy or medications? What is the problem, and how can we help you?” Mooneyham says.
With a goal to make this an annual event, Mooneyham expresses his overall mission is to destigmatize seeking mental and behavioral health support and expose the community to the low-cost—and often free—resources they have at their disposal, from local nonprofits like Centerstone to the 24-hour crisis hotline 988.
The Artists
The Alton Art Expo is still accepting vendors, but some artists have already received an early acceptance, such as Clayton’s I Need That Art gallery owner Martha Valenta, whose art is themed around her ADHD and has previously been featured at Saint Louis Art Museum, Schlafly Art Inside, and the Queeny Art Fair.
“Charles is sharing his space and creating an environment where people have the opportunity to connect with their community, both the artists and viewers, and is hosting an event that’s screaming, ‘You’re not alone. We’re here for you,’” Valenta says.
Other early-accepted artists include St. Louis’ Tom Blood, as well as emerging Alton artists such as Natalie Wellborn. Encouraging folks to still apply, Mooneyham expresses that there are no artistic limits to which he’s holding vendors.
“I personally have more than one voice; if you’re in this art fair, it’s because I believe in your talent and I’m not going to restrict you to one particular voice,” he says. “We do have a set of guidelines of what is acceptable to display—no hate speech, no inciting violence, nothing illegal or immoral. However, we’re also not censoring people or restricting them to one voice or medium.”
Mooneyham does advise parental discretion, as art focused on mental health awareness and processing trauma can present as scary. “As a trauma survivor, my early work in my 20s was quite dark. Fast-forward 30-some years, and the work I’m making now is very colorful and bright. Some of it has political undertones. It’s my way to deal with what’s happening in the country today. Instead of going out and being a keyboard ninja warrior and posting things, I’m trying to create some art that might postulate some change or at least provoke intellectual thinking.”
The Location
As a venue, The Milton Schoolhouse, which is also the home of Maeva’s Coffee and Mooneyham’s studio gallery, boasts a 120-year-old haunted history that began as a school, then a glass factory, then the “boho hippie entrepreneurial establishment it is today,” he says.
“It’s an east-meets-west exhibit; half of the people are from Illinois, and half are from St. Louis,” Mooneyham says. “Alton has so many cool establishments above and beyond the art fair. Alton’s getting pretty hip. It’s kinda like what happened in Maplewood about 20 years ago. There’s a multimillion-dollar revitalization project happening in downtown Alton. They’re shining the place up like a brand-new penny.”
If you are experiencing a mental-health, suicide, substance-use crisis, or any other emotional distress, call or text 988.
