Regional Artist Gallery: Artwork by Veterans - Trout Museum

This exhibit is no longer at the Trout Museum, but I wanted to share it as an example of art therapy for veterans. The pieces shown in the photo below were created by veterans as part of The Return and Recovery Program For Veterans, a program administered by the non-profit Artists For the Humanities. These works offered a way for veterans to express themselves through art and to help provide healing. Click Here for more information about the program.

"Memory" Wood 20' Tall by Brian Duka Smith. "PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) and 

TBI (traumatic brain injury) are often found together win service-members returning from combat.  This piece objectifies the feelings of disorientation and confusion that PTSD/TBI can leave on one in:  it is the movement of thought and memory, trapped in the barrier of an injured mind."-- gallery card

"Lilies of the Field" Ceramic and Wood Tripod 24' Tall by Brian Duka-Smith

"A healthy mind, body, and should constitute a healthy individual.  When any of these is broken or damaged, the balance is broken and the individual will fall, either physically emotionally or spiritually.  With the proper therapy, rehab, and community support, and injured individual may regain his or her balance and once again stand tall." - gallery card

Gallery card for the photo below

"Almost Didn't See Him" by Sgt Darryl E Johnson

"TO Face" 2016. Ink on Canvas, Wood, Hemp by Todd Hartwig.  "TO Face" generated from a group art therapy session.  Each mark on the canvas is a descriptive mark left by an individual's fear, doubt or struggle in their daily life. After the session I transformed the marked canvas into the face form to signify that we can face our fears, doubts and struggles as long as we can process them. --gallery card.

gallery card for below paintings

F.S.B Cunningham in The A Shau Valley

Elysian Fields (artist unknown) "Some day we will gather with all those serving now and those who have gone before us, we will talk about the kinship we shared while deployed, and about serving something greater than ourselves. I'd imagine the Almighty reserves a corner of Heaven, where we will gather around a campfire to meet all our Brothers. We will tell our stories, though mostly happy times we enjoyed while on Earth." --gallery card

"Remembrance" 2015. Charcoal on Paper by Todd Hartwig.  "Remembrance" is a depiction of the battlefield before what is to come.  The scene is observed as being calm and peaceful for the time being. The calm before the storm hits. It relates to life, the feeling of when life is going well and all of a sudden a monkey wrench is thrown in. you have to do what has to be done whether you like it or not to survive. - gallery card

"USMC Iraq, the bigger picture" Digital Reprint of Four 24 x 36 Ink on Paper Panels by Brian Duka-Smith

"Each of these images depicts a different memory from Iraq.  All Sixteen of them come together to create a ghost image of my own face.  In politics, war is a game of numbers.  On the ground on the front lines, all you keep sight of are your brothers and sisters in arms fighting beside you.  The bigger picture of what war means is not some huge amorphsc geopolitical scheme:  it is human life and the immense cost of lives broken or lost forever.  War is the cost of our sons and daughters, our brothers and sisters, grandsons and granddaughters.  It is weighing the cost of a few against the many." - gallery card