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Veterans Art Program

“She was shaking so bad, I was her hands.  It was an honor.”  - program volunteer

The emotional benefits and even healing impact of art-making brings a special form of solace, calm and confidence to veterans who suffer the effects of combat.  In partnership with the McGuire Veterans Hospital, men and women with PTSD and other combat related disabilities are offered the opportunity to both develop art-making skills and complete special art projects that build a sense of community and create inspiring alternatives for dealing with emotional pain and isolation.  Accommodations are made for handicapped and special needs veterans.  This Art for the Journey program impacts over 100 veterans each year.

[Cindy Paullin]: When we invite our veterans to come out to the studio they usually come in a big veterans bus and they drive down on this gorgeous green and it's a retreat, immediately. They hop off the bus and it's accessible here and we set we set up tables and we have volunteers and we share an experience in the art studio. We now hopefully educate inspire and prepare people to work with veterans and we're doing that with our women's prison program and we are focused as well educationally on our children's program so it's it's more than just art. It's more than just friendship or  intergenerational connection. It's it's approachable, doable, and exponentially impactful.

marbled effect with predominantly pinks, purples, and yellows
Pink Pour - US Veteran
marbled effect with purples and yellows on the outside with a mix of colors in the center
Verona - US Veteran
background of various shaded of purple, black rectangles stamped along the edges with lines crossing the image connecting the rectangles.
Crossed Wires - Tim
marbled effect with various colors
Molten Earth - Jim D.
predominantly blue background with criss crossed white and light blue lines
Inside Summer - Mixed
background of blues and greens, two horizontal lines of brown, several vertical and diagonal brush strokes in black, representing trees, and bronze brush strokes representing leaves
Looking through the trees - Mel W.
black background, grey brush strokes, covered by a green swirl. White lines drawn vertically, horizontally, and diagonally to split the canvas into 6 pieces, blue paint covering portions of the white dissecting lines
The grass is green - US Veteran
abstract - pink background, white criss crossed lines and yellow brush strokes
Happy Horizon - US Veteran
multicolored background with criss crossed lines in blacks, greens, and blues
Peacock - US Veteran
yellow background with a green and yellow striped cross diagonally across the page
Bingo - US Veteran
marbled effect with predominantly green and blue colors
Seascape - Rita C.