mural project at the dallas veterans medical center

   I'm working with some awesome people at the Dallas Veterans Medical Center organizing a Mural Program. An Air Force veteran, I've been going there to fix my left hand which I broke in July. The doctors and nurses have all been great and now I have a great occupational therapist. I took them some framed watercolors for their clinics, but I wanted to do more.

   Our initial plan is to paint these murals in the hospital's stairwells - a program which is nationwide in VA Hospitals - to encourage people to use the stairs. Besides me and other veterans, we would also like to get staff, other artists, and students to join in.

  Viewing a mural in a stairwell is a bit different then seeing them from a distance. The viewer will be either coming up or down towards them and then get a close-up view. I like the idea of different perspectives and adding lots of stars and stripes, which will be fun to paint.
   The project has yet to be approved by the Interior Decorators at the VA.

~ here are the rough sketches ~

Veterans seeing and even working on murals which show soldiers fighting in earlier wars ~ connect veterans to the past and give them a stronger sense of purpose, continuity, and importance. pbs.org art and the mind 

I have chosen images starting with the Revolutionary War, WWI and II, Korean, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Members of my family have been in these, so it has an importance to me also.

Bomber, 11 x 8 1/2 inch, pencil on paper

Iwo Jima, 11 x 8 1/2 inch, pencil on paper

Women in the Military, 11 x 8 1/2 inch, pencil on paper

Nam, 11 x 8 1/2 inch, pencil on paper

Nam, 11 x 8 1/2 inch, pencil on paper

Desert Storm, 11 x 8 1/2 inch, pencil on paper

Iraq, 11 x 8 1/2 inch, pencil on paper

Afghanistan, 11 x 8 1/2 inch, pencil on paper

   “Through art, participants were able to express positive feelings, externalize difficult emotions and gain insight into their PTSD symptoms,” Miller said. “Art making fostered discussion and allowed veterans to show empathy for one another.”

   “Art therapy is considered a mind-body intervention that can influence physiological and psychological symptoms. The experience of expressing oneself creatively can reawaken positive emotions and address symptoms of emotional numbing in individuals with PTSD.”

   With so many soldiers currently returning from was with PTSD, Miller believes that creative treatment solutions must be explored.

   “Individuals with PTSD often have difficulty verbalizing their feelings,” she said. “Art therapy can complement other types of treatment for PTSD because it provide and alternative to verbal expression.”

   “Art therapy is the deliberate use of art-making to address psychological and emotional needs.

   Art therapy uses art media and the creative process to help in areas such as, but not limited to: fostering self-expression, enhancing coping skills, managing stress, and strengthening a sense of self.” Traci Pedersen Art Therapy Alleviates PTSD Symptoms in Veterans

   The primary goal of the “Mural Project”, was to provide social, psychological, and emotional support to the youngsters who were experiencing various responses of fear, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress. The rationale behind the Mural Project was that art can serve as therapy for psychological and emotional trauma, and that through the process of creating art in a group, children and youth receive social support that helps them cope with their feelings of stress. N. B. Webb (Ed.), Mass trauma and violence: helping families and children cope (pp. 100-119). New York: Guilford Press.