Ventura, CA - Community Memorial Hospital’s first-floor lobby and hallways is decorated with a vibrant and eclectic mix of paintings and drawings by local artists as the hospital holds its “Splashes of Color” art exhibit that began Monday and will run through Sept. 14.

A “Meet the Artists” reception is set for Tuesday, June 28, from 5 to 7 p.m., in the hospital’s first-floor lobby. This event is open to the public.

The exhibit, a joint partnership between CMH, the Buenaventura Art Association and the Community Memorial Healthcare Foundation, is located on the first floor at Community Memorial Hospital, 147 N. Brent St. in Ventura. Any proceeds are used for future exhibits as well as to benefit local artists and the foundation’s philanthropic efforts.

The exhibit’s theme, according to Layla Hallberg, executive director of the Buenaventura Art Association, came in a sudden burst of inspiration during an organizing meeting. Committee members were struggling to come up with a theme, Hallberg said, when Haady Lashkari, a Community Memorial Health System administrator, blurted out, “Why don’t we just call it ‘Splashes of Color’?”

“We all thought that was absolutely an appropriate theme,” Hallberg said. “The colors will give the hospital a good, summertime feeling.”

For the exhibit, local artists were asked, “What does ‘Splashes of Color’ mean to you? Watermelon dribbling down a chin …A sprinkler in summer …Abstract shapes? Whatever it means, we want to see your interpretation.”

About 50 artists answered the call, Hallberg said, and the 85 works on display will cover “all sizes, styles and mediums. It’s a really good group.”

Community Memorial Hospital is a member of Community Memorial Health System, a not-for-profit health system, which is comprised of Community Memorial Hospital, Ojai Valley Community Hospital, and nine family-practice health centers entitled Centers for Family Health. The health system is located in Ventura County, California.