Collection Preview

 Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015-2017  

ART/Ifacts Exhibitions 

A Project of The Arts & The Military 

For information about the ART-Ifacts Exhibitions Collection,

see www.artsandmilitary.org 

Send inquiries to: 

info@artsandmilitary.org

 

Collection Preview

Table of Contents

An Introduction to the Collection 

The ART/Ifacts Collection: Purpose and History 

Care of the Collection for Exhibitions 

 

The Artwork: 

 

— Handmade Paper Artwork

 

Button Field Paper
  • Artists 

Combat Paper Project: 
A Selected Legacy Collection 2007-2012 
  • Introductory Materials 

  • Combat Paper Press 

  • Broadside Prints from the Linen Series 

  • Artists 

  • Collaborations

  • C.P.P. Workshop Participants


Peace Paper Project
  • Series 
  • -Riots, revolts & revolution 2011-2013 
    -Pledge of Allegiance 
    -Together – Branches of Service, 2014 
  •  Peace Paper Workshops 
  •  Veteran Paper Workshops 
  •  United Kingdom Tour, 2014 
  •  Artists’ Residencies 
  • Panty Pulping Workshops, Interventions, and Residencies 
 
Veterans in the Arts (2010-2015)
  • Artists 

 

— Drawings 

  • Artists 


— Ceramic Artwork

  • Artists 

 

The Calendar:

The ART-ifacts Exhibitions Calendar

An Introduction to the Collection

The ART-ifacts Exhibitions Collection is the tangible legacy of art making as activism. This nearly 300 item collection is assembled from artwork made in response to war experiences and violence – both down range and on the home front. The nature of the artwork allows for the exploration of patriotism, nationalism, perceptions of duty, suffering, heroism, and loyalty, as well as the social, political, and economic underpinnings of military culture, the history of war, and of aggression and brutality. Our ambition for the ART-ifacts Exhibitions Collection is that it be used to spark discussions and debates.

Year of the Veteran exhibition, Alexandria City Hall, Alexandria, VA, November, 2014; photo courtesy Sargent-Thamm 

Patrick Sargent, Reveille (2013); photo courtesy Patrick Sargent 


The ART-ifacts Collection: 

Purpose and History 

The collection consists of artwork produced by a number of grassroots arts initiatives that were founded as a response to specific contemporary events – the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and their impact on those serving at the war front and those assisting at home; the riots, revolts, and revolutions happening in countries throughout the world; as well as issues surrounding domestic abuse and sexual violence. The collection is comprised of artwork created between 2007 and 2012 by Combat Paper Project – an arts initiative that first brought awareness to the public of the value of hand papermaking for veterans, and also work produced by such other groups as Button Field Paper, Peace Paper Project, and Veterans in the Arts. Each one of these groups was inspired by Combat Paper Project, and like Combat Paper they have also created artwork on handmade paper pulped from military uniforms.

While much of our collection is currently handmade paper artwork, we are expanding with pieces produced by veterans using other media such as pen and ink drawings, and ceramics. These pieces have been created by individual veteran/artists, and their work speaks to their particular experiences of war, as well as their issues of post-war reintegration back to civilian society.

Our intent is that the collection be used for exhibitions at a wide range of cultural, educational, and medical institutions throughout the United States and the world. Curators and exhibit organizers have the opportunity to design their own shows, selecting and using the artwork that represents the stories they are wanting to tell. The collection is also available so that discrete items can be added to theme-specific group shows. Additionally, we are developing a few of our own exhibits, and we currently offer Healing Threads / Cathartic Clay: War, Trauma, and Art, a show with 50 handmade paper art pieces and 4 ceramic pieces, and an online accompanying exhibition catalogue.

Since we also work with a team of artists and curators, we also provide recommendations for complimentary artistic and educational programming. Our artists are available to lead art making workshops (particularly hand papermaking and printing), and our curators are available for lectures and gallery tours. We also provide other types of resources, such films for screening and bibliographies for reading suggestions.

The ART-ifacts Exhibitions Collection is a project of The Arts & The Military, which was launched in 2012 with Arts, Military + Healing: A Collaborative Initiative. This was a six-day event with exhibitions, workshops, and public programs for veterans, art therapists, and civilians working in military communities, and it was held at seven cultural, educational, and medical institutions throughout the greater Washington, D.C. area. ART-ifacts Exhibitions launched in 2014 with artwork in a veterans’ show at the Alexandria City Hall in Alexandria, VA, and in 2015 with dedicated exhibits at Texas A & M University and the Lawton Red River Veterans’ Center in collaboration with Military Experience and the Arts 2 at Cameron University, Lawton, OK. While the Texas A & M exhibit highlighted artwork from Combat Paper Project, the Lawton Veterans’ Center show displayed a full range of work from the ART-ifacts Collection.

—Tara Leigh Tappert, Founder and Principal 

 

Guest curator, Tara Tappert, leading a tour of the Citizen Soldier Citizen exhibit at the Lubeznik Center for the Arts, Michigan City, Indiana, November, 2013; photo courtesy Tara Tappert 

Malachi Muncy pulling a sheet of handmade paper, Mid-America Arts Alliance, Kansas City, MO, June, 2014; photo courtesy Malachi Muncy 

 

Care of the Collection for Exhibitions 

Art of War, Texas A & M University, Memorial Student Center, Reynolds Gallery, College Station, TX, Spring 2015; photo courtesy Malachi Muncy 

In order to protect this traveling exhibition collection – comprised of visually engaging and tactile pieces of handmade paper artwork, drawings, and ceramics – we expect those developing exhibits to protect the artwork from unnecessary touching and to display it in such a way that potential damage is minimized or eliminated. By gently handling the artwork while unpacking and during installation, and by using non-invasive formats for its display, the life of the ART-ifacts Exhibitions Collection will remain viable for the foreseeable future and can be shared with groups across the country and the world.

While we believe it is important to protect the artwork while on display, we also encourage curators and those handling the artwork during installation to find creative ways of showing the raw and deckled edges on our paper art collection. While some venues have matted and framed our paper artwork to fit a gallery aesthetic, or have shown it flat in cases, probably the most successful displays have been on walls where the work has been mounted with clips hung on push pins, or on a wire system that allows the work to be hung about two inches away from the wall (see above photo). We prefer that our ceramics collection be displayed on shelves or pedestals, and when possible – so that our larger clay pieces are fully protected – under a vitrine (a glass or Lucite-paneled cabinet or case). These approaches to display allow for close examination without adding distractions or barriers to the gallery experience.

Most of the artwork in our collection is on loan from the artist. Occasionally we receive a request from a collector interested in purchasing a piece seen in a show. When this happens we contact the artist and query their interest in selling the work. The Arts & The Military serves as the intermediary for all potential sales.

Dimensions for all of the artwork are in inches – height x width x depth (when appropriate). 

 

The Artwork

Handmade Paper Artwork 

Stack of handmade paper pulped from military uniforms at Texas State University, November, 2011; photo courtesy Drew Matott 

This collection includes handmade paper artwork produced by several arts initiatives – Button Field Paper; Combat Paper Project – A Selected Legacy Collection from 2007 to 2012; Peace Paper Project; and Veterans in the Arts. Much of the work included here was produced at papermaking workshops hosted by a wide range of cultural, educational, social service, and clinical organizations. The paper in this collection is made from pulped military uniforms, items of clothing worn during momentous events, and intimate apparel.

This body of work demonstrates that the papermaking process has significance for veterans and for civilians who have been traumatized by war and violence. Every fiber in a newly formed sheet of paper tells a story, while the papermaking process itself – which breaks the fiber to a pulp and then reconstitutes it as something new – is a poignant representation for resiliency.

Indeed, the unhurried and methodical process of making paper by hand is transformative and empowering. Paper formation engages the hand and the body and the soothing and repetitive process grounds the maker in the here and now. As a sensory-based activity, papermaking allows for the making of meaning through symbolic expression, and for those processing traumatic memories and emotions it can engender intense and focused creativity that can be healing. The mastery of skills and techniques also promote personal agency, and such proficiency can bring new identity and new community connections.

We believe that hand papermaking brings communities together. 

Button Field Paper 

https://buttonfieldpress.com/ 

Malachi Muncy leading a Button Field Paper workshop with veterans at Under the Hood Cafe, Kileen, Texas, November, 2011; photo courtesy Drew Matott 

Founded in 2011 by Malachi Muncy, the inspiration for Button Field Paper was the hand papermaking workshops of Combat Paper Project. Button Field Paper provides artistic space for veterans and community members to discuss military experiences while creating works of art from uniforms and personally significant articles of clothing. Muncy describes the value of the paper making process as follows:

Whether the art is commemorative of an experience or attempts to overcome it through the cathartic process, the communication that happens in and around workshops serve to let people know that an experience does not have to be locked away like an old uniform in the attic of the mind. 

Muncy and his family have found the papermaking process helpful in making sense of their own military experiences, and he has a particular interest in providing workshops for veterans with their spouses and children. Since 2011 Muncy has sponsored papermaking workshops at Under the Hood Café, at Texas State University, and at other locations throughout Texas and beyond.

Button Field Paper takes its name from a button field created in the late 19th and early 20th century by the Holyoke Paper Mill in South Hadley, Massachusetts. During the First World War the paper mill pulped rags and discarded their paper waste – including hundreds of thousands of buttons – as fertilizer for the local farmers. A part of the button field is now owned by Mt. Holyoke College, and buttons are still collected from there today. 

Artists 

Malachi Muncy (Army) 

Awards 

Malachi Muncy (Army) 

Military awards, veteran card from graduation ceremony, and ribbon from Veterans’ Day celebration, embedded into paper pulped from military uniforms (2013)

11 x 17 inches, unframed

Exhibited at: Lawton Red River Veterans’ Center (2015)

To Play Army 

Malachi Muncy (Army) 

Pulp panting and ink with toy Army men embedded in paper made from pulped military uniforms (2013)

11 x 17 inches, unframed

Exhibited at:

Lawton Red River Veterans’ Center (2015)

Combat Paper Project workshop, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, November, 2011; photo courtesy Margaret Mahan 

Combat Paper Project A Selected Legacy Collection 2007 – 2012 

https://www.combatpaper.org/ 

Founded in 2007 as an arts and activist initiative, from 2007 to 2012 Combat Paper Project addressed the experiences of veterans and civilians reacting and responding to the effects of war, with the voices of veterans and civilians equally welcomed. A team of veteran and civilian artists traveled throughout the U.S. offering papermaking workshops where veterans and civilians created works of art on paper made from military uniforms – many of which had been worn in combat. By taking the experiences of war from the battlefield into the studio, the workshops allowed veterans to reconcile and share personal stories, and they became forums for veterans and civilians to consider the dehumanizing effects of warfare, to contemplate the role of militarism in society, to raise awareness regarding home front responsibilities to those returning from war, and to broaden the narratives surrounding service and military culture.

Those leading Combat Paper Project workshops recognized the methodical process of hand papermaking as calming and rewarding for combat veterans. Many who participated found a new sense of purpose and a new identity. Eli Wright, an Army veteran described the impact of the project on his life.

I was a medic. I enlisted in the military to save lives, not take them. … So the first friend I made in Iraq was confusion. In a detention center, I witnessed a fellow medic beat a prisoner. And I made friends with anger that night. … I made my third friend coming home, and that was shame. … I only had these three friends until I discovered this project. I finally found some new friends. … This project saves lives, it gives us direction—to find we can build bridges and tear down those walls and remake sense of our lives. 

Combat Paper Project emerged as a response to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and to the impact of the wars on those serving at the front and responding at home, and was ignited through connections with activist organizations like Iraq Veterans Against the War and Warrior Writers. The core group of veterans participating in the early workshops – many whose artwork is represented here – honed their papermaking skills with Drew Matott, then completing an MFA in Book and Paper Arts from Columbia College, Chicago, IL. Between 2007 and 2014, the project gained visibility through workshops, demonstrations, lectures, and exhibitions. In addition to the public workshops, artists created a wide range of artwork at university-sponsored artist residencies, and some of that work is now in the collections of museums and libraries throughout the world. An extensive collection of Combat Paper Project materials is archived in the library at the University of Illinois-Urbana, Champaign.

Civilian co-founder, Drew Matott, left Combat Paper Project in 2011, and since then the project focus has tightened to primarily hand papermaking workshops for veterans and military family members. Workshops continue throughout the country, and at four papermaking studios affiliated with Combat Paper Project. Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Introductory Materials 

Detail

Combat Paper Project Dispatches – Edgewood College 

Drew Matott (Civilian), Margaret Mahan (Civilian) and Various Authors 

Workshop, Edgewood College, Madison WI, March, 2011

Litho and relief printing on combat paper with typewritten comments by workshop participants

30 x 8 inches, unframed

Can be displayed individually or as a collection

5 sheets – 2 blank sheets

Exhibited at: Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Combat Paper Press 

Colors of Trees We Couldn’t Name 

Nathan Lewis (Army) 

Coptic Stitch Artist Book

8 x 5 inches

2012

Limited Edition of 200

Exhibited at: Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015 Broadside Prints from the Linen Series

Broadside Prints from the Linen Series 

Craftsman 

From the Linen Series

Drew Matott (Civilian) 

Photo source -- Nathan Lewis (Army)

Collaboration with BluSeed Studios, Saranac Lake, NY, 2010

Relief printing on pulped linen paper (2010)

6 ½ x 13 inches, unframed

Exhibited at: Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Artists 

Mike Blake (Army) 

Vortex 

Mike Blake (Army) 

Collaboration with the Green Door Studio, Burlington, VT, 2008

Pulp painting with American flags and wooden sticks embedded in combat paper (2007)

48 x 52 inches, unframed

Exhibited at:

Texas A & M University (2015) Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Donna Perdue (Marines) 

Amani My Culture 

Donna Perdue (Marines) 

Workshop, Studios of Key West, Key West, FL, 2009

Pulp painting, pulp printing, metal, and beads on combat paper (2009)

43 ½ x 66 ½ inches unframed

Exhibited at:

Texas A & M University (2015) Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Collaborations 

Nathan Lewis (Army) and Jen Pacanowski (Army) 

Peace 

Nathan Lewis (Army) and Jen Pacanowski (Army) 

Workshop, West Tisbury Grange Hall, Martha’s Vineyard, MA, July, 2008

Pulp painting and pulp printing on combat paper (2009)

8 x 11 inches, unframed

Exhibited at: Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Workshop Participants 

University of North Carolina-Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, November, 2010 

USS Shangri La – “The Myth of a Perfect Place” 

Ed Gary (Navy), Chris Arendt (Army/National Guard), Margaret Mahan (Civilian) 

Workshop, University of North Carolina-Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, November, 2010

Lithographic print on combat paper (2010)

12 x 18 inches, unframed

Exhibited at: Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Peace Paper Project 

Peace Paper Project logo; image courtesy Peace Paper Project 

Founded in 2011 by Drew Matott and Margaret Mahan, Peace Paper Project employs the ancient tradition of hand papermaking as a vehicle for personal expression and cultural change – breaking down fibers to make a new and beautiful thing. Using a portable papermaking studio Matott and Mahan travel throughout the world utilizing the papermaking process as a form of public intervention. They regard papermaking as a compelling metaphor for transformation and resiliency, and in collaboration with art therapists in clinical settings, and with staff in a wide range of socially engaged service and cultural organizations they use paper as an expressive tool for coping with trauma, and for responding to current societal issues.

In addition to the workshop offerings, the Peace Paper Project portable studio is often set up on the streets of urban centers so that those who pass by can participate in such socially engaging events as Veteran Paper Workshop, Panty Pulping, and Papermaking with Invasive Aquatic Plants. Each of these different social action happenings focus on specific audiences dealing with trauma – veterans, military families, and communities impacted by war; survivors of sexual and domestic violence; and the earth itself as it copes with human imprint on its environment. The materials pulped and made into paper include military uniforms, under garments and other forms of personal clothing, and non-native plants. Matott and Mahan often gather crowds using a bicycle to manually power their Hollander beater. Not only is this performance gesture designed to seduce and engage the viewer, but it also speaks to craft-making as a form of resistance and subversion. By pedal-powering the beater, the hand-made process is overtly elevated, mass production is covertly rejected, and the way of working is slowed to a speed more in keeping with the 19th rather than the 21st century.

Since 2011 Peace Paper Project has helped develop over twenty papermaking programs that operate throughout the world. Each, in the spirit of Peace Paper Project, uses the papermaking process as a tool for healing and for public interaction. The mission of Peace Paper Project is to strengthen communities world-wide through papermaking workshops, interventions, internships, and hands-on training. Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Series 

Drew Matott printing Pledge of Allegiance on Vandercook Universal IV at BluSeed Studios, June, 2014; photo courtesy Drew Matott 

As the Peace Paper Project facilitators travel throughout the United States and the world offering workshops and interventions to a wide range of artists, therapists, and participants from socially engaged organizations, they find the creative exercises in writing, sketching, carving, pulping, and printing that take place in their workshops and interventions, coupled with conversations and debates with participants, and the rich experiences absorbed overall as the inspiration for the thematically focused arts series that manifest in their own artwork created during workshops or later at artist residencies. Drew Matott describes the Peace Paper Project studio creations as artwork that demonstrates the common ground they have found with their collaborators. Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Mono-print created in response to the 2011 London riots; photo courtesy Peace Paper Project 

riots, revolts & revolution 

2011-2013 

riots, revolts & revolution is a series conceived for Peace Paper Project by Drew Matott, Margaret Mahan, and John La Falce. The artwork created was in response to political uprisings across the globe in 2011 and 2012, many of which took place in the Middle East.

The American news media during this time showcased the efforts of American foreign policy makers, highlighting new democracies established in such countries as Egypt and Iraq. The media view of democratic order and new hope was in stark contrast to the chaotic turmoil experienced by those living through the uprisings.

When the Peace Paper team found themselves stranded on the streets of London during the London Riots of 2011 they decided to make a body of artwork that reflected global uprisings as well as their own experiences. Matott, Mahan, and La Falce used the clothing they wore in London during the riots to make the paper for riots, revolts & revolution. They also created a number of mono prints during a 2011 artist residency in Paris, producing images inspired by burning buildings depicted on the news. A selection of work from that series is included here. Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Benghazi, 2012 

Drew Matott 

Artist Residency, BluSeed Studios, Saranac Lake, NY, 2012

Pulp painting and pulp printing on pulped rag paper (2012)

54 x 24 inches, unframed

Exhibited at:

Lawton Red River Veterans’ Center (2015) Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Flag images; photos courtesy Drew Matott 

Pledge of Allegiance, 2014 

The Pledge of Allegiance was originally written by a socialist in 1865 as a way to covertly unify the working class worldwide. The Pledge was institutionalized by the U.S. Congress and was made a part of the everyday experiences of school children.

Between 1924 and 1942 Congress altered the Pledge of Allegiance to add "of the United States of America" as a way to specify for which nation the Pledge was being taken. This was the result of an increasing immigrant population and of American nationalism in response to U.S. involvement in World War I and World War II.

In 1954 Congress again altered the Pledge of Allegiance, this time adding "under God." This was a Cold War reaction, and was intended as a way to delineate the U.S.A. from the U.S.S.R. The United States is a country where religion is celebrated, while the Soviet Union was considered a Godless nation where the government did not allow freedom of religion.

Growing up, I recited the Pledge of Allegiance every school day with the rest of my classmates and all my fellow American school children from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Yet I never once learned about the history of the Pledge, where it came from, and why it was recited every day at school. So upon researching it, I thought it would be interesting to do a series of broadsides that explored the changes in a very straight and forward manner.

When considering the substrate for the printed material, I was on a constitutional about town after a Fourth of July celebration and lay witness to U.S. flags strewn about the street, discarded, torn, and soiled. I thought about what it meant to celebrate the flag versus to desecrate it. In this case, the wake of a flag celebration left hundreds of flags desecrated. So Margaret Mahan and I gathered up the discarded flags and brought them to my paper studio where I pulped them and made 200 sheets of 14 x 18 inch paper. I then used the paper to print the different incarnations of the pledge.

Drew Matott, November, 2014 Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Pledge of Allegiance, 1865 

Drew Matott and Margaret Mahan 

Artist Residency, Peace Paper Project and Free Your Mind Press, Saranac Lake, NY, 2014

Relief printing on paper made from pulped American flags (2014)

18 x 14 inches, unframed

Edition of 52

Exhibited at: Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Together – Branches of Service, 2014 

Together; courtesy of Peace Paper Project 

The Together series began in 2012 at the first Veteran Paper Workshop hosted by the Hines VA Hospital in Chicago, IL. As an exercise to direct veterans through the papermaking and pulp printing process the Peace Paper facilitators began to use stencils to represent the different branches of service. They saw this as a way for veterans of all branches of the military to come together and celebrate one another’s service, as well as educate civilians about the veteran community around them.

Typically, workshops begin with everyone pulling a sheet of paper from the pulp of their branch of service, and then pulling a sheet from the pulp of all the other branches, and then pulp printing the logo of their service branch on a sheet of paper from their branch. For veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress, traumatic brain injury, or drug and alcohol dependency, the exercise proves focusing and engaging, allowing them to feel comfortable talking with one another about where they served, when, and for how long. When this level of engagement happens the energy shifts, creativity begins to flow, complex and layered compositions are created, and the veterans make prints for their friends and family, and for those with whom they had served.

The success of the first Hines VA workshop inspired Peace Paper facilitators to begin using the “together” and branches of service stencils on college campuses. They found the technique to be an effective way to engage student veterans in the creative process. It has also proven useful in educating civilians by challenging them to make a print of each branch of service and to give the prints away to friends they know who are currently serving. The process makes military service “real” for civilians, and teaches them the difference between the branches.

The Together series is a way to show that we are all in this together – whether you are “boots on the ground” serving in the military, or a civilian at home working with veteran communities. Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Together – US Marine Corps 

(Branches of Service)

Drew Matott 

Workshop, Salina Art Center, Salina, KS, November 2014

Pulp printing on paper made from pulped military uniforms (2014)

9 ¼ x 12 ¼ inches, unframed

Exhibited at: Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Peace Paper Workshops 

Margaret Mahan demonstrates Nepalese style sheet formation at the ROTA Studio and Gallery, Plattsburgh, New York, August, 2013; Peace Paper Project 

Peace Paper Project workshops are a form of art therapy and socially engaged art making, and as such they represent a unique artistic practice. The workshop facilitator is at the crossroads of art therapist, educator, activist, engineer, entrepreneur, and artist. Custom-designed to meet the needs and abilities of each host community, Peace Paper workshops are offered in collaboration with art therapists, social workers, community leaders, and mental health providers. Workshop participants bring in articles of clothing that hold personal significance. They then cut the cloth into small pieces, pulp the fibers, and reform the pulp into sheets of paper. One t-shirt, for example, will make 30 to 50 sheets of paper. When the paper has dried, participants continue their workshop experience expressing themselves creatively by using a variety of techniques, such as pulp painting, pulp printing, and bookbinding, as well as journal writing. In an effort to continue their healing process, participants keep all the paper they make and are encouraged to share it with family and friends. Yet, sometimes, paper is left behind, and these sheets find their way into Peace Paper recipe books or into exhibitions. A selection of such work is included here. Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Workshop, St. Leo University, St. Leo, FL, 2013 

I Deserve to Be 

(Workshop Print)

Margaret Mahan 

Workshop, School of Social Work, St. Leo University, St. Leo, FL, 2013

Pulp painting and pulp printing on paper made from pulped military uniforms (2013)

12 ½ x 9 ¼ inches, unframed

Exhibited at: Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Promotional flyer for the Veteran Paper Workshop at Florida State University, September, 2014; photo courtesy Peace Paper Project. 

Veteran Paper Workshops 

With a mission of delivering a creative skill-set with the potential of enriching life experiences for military veterans – the Peace Paper Project, Veteran Paper Workshop program is committed to giving veterans a safe environment to reconstitute their military uniforms into paper, to providing them with a platform for sharing stories, and to facilitating a process that connects them with their resources, each other, and the communities in which they served.

Since 2011, Veteran Paper Workshop has operated nationally and internationally at universities, foundations, hospitals, art centers, shelters, and community centers. The papermaking process for veterans, like the material itself, means something different to each participant. Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Workshop, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, 2014 

Richard C. Hunt 

(Workshop Print)

Annie McFarland (Civilian) 

Workshop, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, 2014

Pulp printing on paper made from pulped military uniforms (2014)

12 ¼ x 9 3/8 inches, unframed

Exhibited at: Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Workshop, Salina Art Center, Salina, KS, 2014 

Together: Soldier with Dog Tags 

(Workshop Print)

Larry Davis (Navy) 

Workshop, Salina Arts Center, Salina, KS, 2014

Pulp painting and pulp printing on paper made from pulped military uniforms (2014)

12 ¼ x 9 ½ inches, unframed

Exhibited at: Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

United Kingdom Tour 

Workshop participants cutting rag in Belfast, Northern Ireland, March, 2014; photo courtesy Peace Paper Project 

A request for a lecture from faculty at University of St. Andrews about Peace Paper Project’s veterans’ trauma intervention papermaking workshops taught in collaboration with art therapists sparked interest throughout the United Kingdom and a two-month tour developed. During February and March, 2014, Drew Matott and Margaret Mahan traveled through England, Scotland, and Ireland working with art therapists and bringing papermaking workshops to ex-combatants and civilians caught in the cross-fire during the most recent years of “the Troubles” (the collective name for the ethnic, religious, and nationalist conflicts in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, England, and mainland Europe).

Matott’s and Mahan’s commitment to papermaking as a transformative healing process is based in their understanding of it as a sensory-based activity that allows for the making of meaning through symbolic expression by those processing traumatic memories and emotions. Paper formation engages the hands and the body and the soothing repetitive process grounds the maker in the here and now. Through papermaking’s concrete, step-by-step practice, participants are assured a contained and protected experience, are afforded the safety to share whatever they want, and are given the chance to let go of old things so restoration and renewal might happen.

Ten cultural and educational institutions hosted the Peace Paper team in cities, towns, and villages affected by “the Troubles.” Workshop participants brought in clothing that reminded them of that time. It was then cut, pulped and reformed into sheets of paper. During the workshops community members engaged in much needed dialogue about life since “the Troubles.” The largest workshop was in Brighton – where, in 1984, a hotel bombing nearly took the life of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher – and the 175 people who attended found papermaking as a way to acknowledge resiliency and to express compassion. Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Workshop, Phoenix Brighton, Brighton, England, U.K., 2014 

Surviving the Troubles, Brighton 

Margaret Mahan 

Workshop, Phoenix Brighton, Brighton, England, 2014

Pulp painting and pulp printing on paper made from pulped personal clothing, 2014

12 1/2 x 9 1/2 inches, unframed

Exhibited at: Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Artists’ Residencies 

Workshop participant manually pulping milfoil in the Hollander beater during a Peace Paper artist residency at BluSeed Studios, Saranac Lake, NY, 2014; photo courtesy Drew Matott 

Since Peace Paper Project facilitators put most of their energy into engaging with participants at Peace Paper workshops, Veteran Paper Workshop, and Panty Pulping workshops and interventions, a few months each year are set aside for a studio residency that allows for reflection and the time to execute new bodies of work. While residencies have taken place all over the world, their most productive residencies have been at BluSeed Studios, a bustling art center housed in a refurbished 1920s building located deep in the Adirondack Mountains in northern New York. This site, situated along side abandoned railroad tracks, is surrounded by mountain tops and dense wilderness, and is the perfect place for productive creativity as there are few distractions. Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

BluSeed Studios, Saranac Lake, NY, 2014 

Make Paper to Heal – Peace Paper Project 

(1st version)

Drew Matott, Margaret Mahan, Kevin Matott 

Artist Residencies, BluSeed Studios, Free Your Mind Press, Saranac Lake, NY 2014 and 2015

Linoleum and letterpress printing (2015) on pulped rag paper (2014)

14 X 9 3/8 inches, unframed

Exhibited at: Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Panty Pulping Workshops, Interventions, and Residencies 

Panty Pulping Workshop at St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY, 2013; photo courtesy Peace Paper Project 

At Panty Pulping workshops, facilitated by Peace Paper Project, participants share strengths and joys by transforming intimate garments into handmade paper. Through the process of snipping, beating, and re-forming private apparel into paper, personal stories are exposed and the personalities of those participating are revealed. Panty Pulping brings new significance to the papermaking process as makers of all ages and genders vow to promote non-violence – in thought, speech, and action. The act of creating a sheet of paper symbolizes a commitment to peace, and is a physical manifestation of respect and support for survivors of sexual trauma and domestic violence.

Panty Pulping interventions are public events that call for an end to sexual and domestic violence – in all its forms. Breaking down undergarments into pulp and reforming those fibers into new sheets of paper is an action that addresses such unmentionable as sexual assault and domestic violence, while simultaneously encouraging well being and resiliency. Panty Pulping interventions use the hand papermaking process as a tool to promote consent, non-violence, and creative expressions of empowerment.

Panty Pulping is an advocacy initiative with the mission of spreading awareness and promoting healthy relationships. Funding from institutions hosting Panty Pulping workshops and interventions enables Peace Paper Project, in collaboration with care-providers and therapists, to facilitate private papermaking workshops for survivors of abuse. Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Intervention, Alfred University, Alfred, NY, 2013 

Portrait of Malala Yousafzai 

(Workshop Print)

Workshop Participant 

Intervention, Alfred University, Alfred, NY, 2013

Pulp painting and screen printing on pulped rag paper (2013)

12 x 9 inches, unframed

Exhibited at: Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

VETERANS IN THE ARTS (2010-2015) 

Veterans in the Arts papermaking workshop; photo courtesy Suzanne Asher 

Inspired by a 2009 Combat Paper Project workshop and a vision for a permanent place for veterans to make art, Air Force veteran Suzanne Asher founded Veterans in the Arts in 2010 in the Minneapolis and St. Paul area. For the next five years she managed the community-based arts program, working collaboratively with three arts centers – Northern Clay Center, Highpoint Center for Printmaking, and Minnesota Center for Book Arts. The mission of Veterans in the Arts was the facilitation of progressive art experiences for military veterans through supportive programs of discipline-specific classes, theater collaborations, art commissions, and exhibition opportunities. Funding from an Arts Learning grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board in 2011 helped launch the program.

Asher understood that traditional approaches to the arts were too structured for the average veteran, and that gently leading them through a wide range of arts experiences could lead a veteran through conflicted solitude back to the civilian communities surrounding him or her, as well as assist in resolving trauma and teaching new disciplines of self-expression and personal development. Asher noted:

The studio is a very safe place for a traumatized veteran. There’s kindness and warmth and no drugs or alcohol. There is freedom to say or do what you want. 

Artwork included here demonstrates how Veterans in the Arts worked collaboratively with veterans, making it possible for them to create meaningful work and to form personal relationships. Following five years of successful programming, Veterans in the Arts closed its doors in 2015. Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Sunset 

Suzanne Asher (Air Force), Tom Dunne (Marines and Army), Nick Vlcek (Army Reserve), Richard Stevens (Civilian), Hans Koch (Civilian), and Chante Wolf (Air Force) 

Asher – project lead, made the paper, assisted with the printing; Dunne – wrote the words; Vlcek – drew the illustrations; Stevens – master printer, carved the sunset block; Koch –assisted with printing; Wolf – helped make the paper

Workshop, Minnesota Center for Book Arts, St. Paul, MN, 2014

Block printing and silk screening on handmade paper from desert digital and woodland camouflage uniforms (2014)

20 ½ x 16 ¼ inches, unframed

Exhibited at: Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Drawings 

Jesse Albrecht drawings and ceramics, Healing Threads/Cathartic Clay: War, Trauma, and Art, Salina Art Center exhibition, Salina, KS, November 2014 - February 2015; photo courtesy Tara Tappert 

Six drawings by Jesse Albrecht are included in the collection. They speak to his war experiences in Iraq, but also demonstrate how his time in Montana – he teaches ceramics at Montana State University in Bozeman – has infiltrated his thinking and his work. There are also pieces in response to a censoring incident – one of his sculptures was removed from a 2013 MSU faculty invitational exhibition – that express his feelings about what it means to be a veteran/artist. Intensely personal iconography is the format Albrecht uses to share the meaning of his work, life, and view of the world. The pieces are declarative portraits –Sweet Carissa: 3347171, Emerson Art Cowards, and Shock N Awe – or contained, autobiographical shatter zones –Goat Fuck, The Bloody Hand, and Thug Life. Albrecht is an artist, a soldier, and a veteran, and these identities are nearly always intermingled.

For further information about these drawings, see the catalogue for Healing Threads/Cathartic Clay: War, Trauma, and Art, an exhibition held at the Salina Art Center, Salina, KS – https://www.salinaartcenter.org/exhibitions/view/healing_threads_cathartic_clay_war_trauma_and_art/. Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Artists 

Jesse Albrecht (Army/National Guard) 

Thug Life 

Jesse Albrecht (Army/National Guard)

Bic 4 color pen on paper (2013)

22 x 30 inches

Exhibited at: Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Ceramic Artwork 

Ceramic cups by Ehren Tool, exhibited in CitizenSoldierCitizen, Lubeznik Center for the Arts, Michigan City, IN, November 2013 - February 2014; photo courtesy Tara Tappert 

Four War Crocks by Jesse Albrecht and thirty-nine ceramic cups by Ehren Tool are included in the collection. All of this work was initially made for two exhibitions – CitizenSoldierCitizen (2013/14) and Healing Threads/Cathartic Clay: War, Trauma, and Art (2014/15). Iraq War Army Medic Jesse Albrecht and Desert Storm Marine Ehren Tool draw upon their military experiences for their ceramic artwork.

For further information about these ceramic pieces, see the catalogues for CitizenSoldierCitizen, an exhibition held at the Lubeznik Center for the Arts, Michigan City, IN – https://www.lubeznikcenter.org/pdf/CSC-online-catalogue.pdf; and Healing Threads/Cathartic Clay: War, Trauma, and Art, an exhibition held at the Salina Art Center, Salina, KS – https://www.salinaartcenter.org/exhibitions/view/healing_threads_cathartic_clay_war_trauma_and_art/. Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Artists 

Jesse Albrecht (Army/National Guard) 

Blind Spot 

Jesse Albrecht (Army/National Guard) 

Ceramic – War Crock (2014)

14 x 10 inches

Exhibited at: Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Ehren Tool (Marines) 

39 Ceramic Cups 

Ehren Tool (Marines) 

Clay (2013)

Exhibited at:

Baltimore Clay Works (2015) Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

THE CALENDAR Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

The ART-ifacts Exhibitions Calendar 

Meredith McMackin, Annie McFarland, and Malachi Muncy at the Healing Threads Exhibition, at the Lawton Red River Veterans’ Center, Lawton, OK, for MEA2, May 2015; photo courtesy Tara Tappert 

2015 

Celebrating Veterans and the Arts, Hylton Performing Arts Center, George Mason University, November 11, 2015 – https://www.hyltoncenter.org/calendar/746/

Homefront and Downrange: Witness the ART in Military Life, Arts Council of Moore County, Campbell House, Southern Pines, NC, June 5-July 10, 2015 – https://www.mooreart.org/programs/visual/homefront/

Healing Threads: War, Trauma, and Art, Lawton Red River Vet Center, Lawton, OK, in collaboration with Military Experience and the Arts 2, at Cameron University, May 14-30, 2015 – https://militaryexperience.org/mea2-art-ifacts-exhibitions/

The Art of War, Texas A & M University, Reynolds Gallery, College Station, TX, April 15 – June 14, 2015 – https://calendar.tamu.edu/?&y=2015&m=04&d=15&eventdatetime_id=23907&

Healing Journeys: How Art Serves Our Military, Baltimore Clayworks, Community Arts Gallery, Baltimore, MD, March 14 – May 9, 2015 – https://healingjourneysart.weebly.com/


Arts, Military + Healing:
A Collaborative Initiative

Papermaking as Art Therapy Workshop; George Mason University School of Art, Fairfax, VA, May 2012 (below)

Patrick Sargent examines his work (photo courtesy Elmo Thamm)
Jesse Albrecht throwing a War Crock, LH Projects, Joseph, Oregon, 2013 (photo courtesy Jesse Albrecht)
Drew Matott inspiring students at the Fine Arts Center, Greenville, SC, November, 2014 (photo courtesy Drew Matott) 
Patrick Sargent, "Reveille" (photo courtesy Patrick Sargent)
Curator Tara Tappert with Combat Paper Project works.

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE COLLECTION

Year of the Veteran exhibition, Alexandria City Hall, Alexandria, VA, November, 2014; photo courtesy Sargent-Thamm 

Arts, Military + Healing: A Collaborative Initiative – Papermaking as Art Therapy Workshop -- Patrick Sargent examines his work-- George Mason University School of Art, Fairfax, VA, May 2012; photo courtesy Elmo Thamm 

Patrick Sargent, Reveille (2013); photo courtesy Patrick Sargent 

Jesse Albrecht throwing a War Crock, LH Projects, Joseph, Oregon, 2013; photo courtesy Jesse Albrecht 

The ART-ifacts Collection: 

Purpose and History 

The ART-ifacts Exhibitions Collection is the tangible legacy of art making as activism. This nearly 300 item collection is assembled from artwork made in response to war experiences and violence – both down range and on the home front. The nature of the artwork allows for the exploration of patriotism, nationalism, perceptions of duty, suffering, heroism, and loyalty, as well as the social, political, and economic underpinnings of military culture, the history of war, and of aggression and brutality. Our ambition for the ART-ifacts Exhibitions Collection is that it be used to spark discussions and debates.

The collection consists of artwork produced by a number of grassroots arts initiatives that were founded as a response to specific contemporary events – the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and their impact on those serving at the war front and those assisting at home; the riots, revolts, and revolutions happening in countries throughout the world; as well as issues surrounding domestic abuse and sexual violence. The collection is comprised of artwork created between 2007 and 2012 by Combat Paper Project – an arts initiative that first brought awareness to the public of the value of hand papermaking for veterans, and also work produced by such other groups as Button Field Paper, Peace Paper Project, and Veterans in the Arts. Each one of these groups was inspired by Combat Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Drew Matott inspiring students at the Fine Arts Center, Greenville, SC, November, 2014; photo courtesy Drew Matott 

Guest curator, Tara Tappert, leading a tour of the Citizen Soldier Citizen exhibit at the Lubeznik Center for the Arts, Michigan City, Indiana, November, 2013; photo courtesy Tara Tappert 

Malachi Muncy pulling a sheet of handmade paper, Mid-America Arts Alliance, Kansas City, MO, June, 2014; photo courtesy Malachi Muncy 

Paper Project, and like Combat Paper they have also created artwork on handmade paper pulped from military uniforms.

While much of our collection is currently handmade paper artwork, we are expanding with pieces produced by veterans using other media such as pen and ink drawings, and ceramics. These pieces have been created by individual veteran/artists, and their work speaks to their particular experiences of war, as well as their issues of post-war reintegration back to civilian society.

Our intent is that the collection be used for exhibitions at a wide range of cultural, educational, and medical institutions throughout the United States and the world. Curators and exhibit organizers have the opportunity to design their own shows, selecting and using the artwork that represents the stories they are wanting to tell. The collection is also available so that discrete items can be added to theme-specific group shows. Additionally, we are developing a few of our own exhibits, and we currently offer Healing Threads / Cathartic Clay: War, Trauma, and Art, a show with 50 handmade paper art pieces and 4 ceramic pieces, and an online accompanying exhibition catalogue.

Since we also work with a team of artists and curators, we also provide recommendations for complimentary artistic and educational programming. Our artists are available to lead art making workshops (particularly hand papermaking and printing), and our curators are available for lectures and gallery tours. We also provide other types of resources, such films for screening and bibliographies for reading suggestions.

The ART-ifacts Exhibitions Collection is a project of The Arts & The Military, which was launched in 2012 with Arts, Military + Healing: A Collaborative Initiative. This was a six-day event with exhibitions, workshops, and public programs for veterans, art therapists, and civilians working in military communities, and it was held at seven cultural, educational, and medical institutions throughout the greater Washington, D.C. area. ART-ifacts Exhibitions launched in 2014 with artwork in a veterans’ show at the Alexandria City Hall in Alexandria, VA, and in 2015 with dedicated exhibits at Texas A & M University and the Lawton Red River Veterans’ Center in collaboration with Military Experience and the Arts 2 at Cameron University, Lawton, OK. While the Texas A & M exhibit highlighted artwork from Combat Paper Project, the Lawton Veterans’ Center show displayed a full range of work from the ART-ifacts Collection.

Tara Leigh Tappert, Founder and Principal 

Care of the Collection for Exhibitions 

Art of War, Texas A & M University, Memorial Student Center, Reynolds Gallery, College Station, TX, Spring 2015; photo courtesy Malachi Muncy 

In order to protect this traveling exhibition collection – comprised of visually engaging and tactile pieces of handmade paper artwork, drawings, and ceramics – we expect those developing exhibits to protect the artwork from unnecessary touching and to display it in such a way that potential damage is minimized or eliminated. By gently handling the artwork while unpacking and during installation, and by using non-invasive formats for its display, the life of the ART-ifacts Exhibitions Collection will remain viable for the foreseeable future and can be shared with groups across the country and the world.

While we believe it is important to protect the artwork while on display, we also encourage curators and those handling the artwork during installation to find creative ways of showing the raw and deckled edges on our paper art collection. While some venues have matted and framed our paper artwork to fit a gallery aesthetic, or have shown it flat in cases, probably the most successful displays have been on walls where the work has been mounted with clips hung on push pins, or on a wire system that allows the work to be hung about two inches away from the wall (see above photo). We prefer that our ceramics collection be displayed on shelves or pedestals, and when possible – so that our larger clay pieces are fully protected – under a vitrine (a glass or Lucite-paneled cabinet or case). These approaches to display allow for close examination without adding distractions or barriers to the gallery experience.

Most of the artwork in our collection is on loan from the artist. Occasionally we receive a request from a collector interested in purchasing a piece seen in a show. When this happens we contact the artist and query their interest in selling the work. The Arts & The Military serves as the intermediary for all potential sales.

Dimensions for all of the artwork are in inches – height x width x depth (when appropriate). Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

THE ARTWORK

Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Handmade Paper Artwork 

Stack of handmade paper pulped from military uniforms at Texas State University, November, 2011; photo courtesy Drew Matott 

This collection includes handmade paper artwork produced by several arts initiatives – Button Field Paper; Combat Paper Project – A Selected Legacy Collection from 2007 to 2012; Peace Paper Project; and Veterans in the Arts. Much of the work included here was produced at papermaking workshops hosted by a wide range of cultural, educational, social service, and clinical organizations. The paper in this collection is made from pulped military uniforms, items of clothing worn during momentous events, and intimate apparel.

This body of work demonstrates that the papermaking process has significance for veterans and for civilians who have been traumatized by war and violence. Every fiber in a newly formed sheet of paper tells a story, while the papermaking process itself – which breaks the fiber to a pulp and then reconstitutes it as something new – is a poignant representation for resiliency.

Indeed, the unhurried and methodical process of making paper by hand is transformative and empowering. Paper formation engages the hand and the body and the soothing and repetitive process grounds the maker in the here and now. As a sensory-based activity, papermaking allows for the making of meaning through symbolic expression, and for those processing traumatic memories and emotions it can engender intense and focused creativity that can be healing. The mastery of skills and techniques also promote personal agency, and such proficiency can bring new identity and new community connections.

We believe that hand papermaking brings communities together. Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Button Field Paper 

https://buttonfieldpress.com/ 

Malachi Muncy leading a Button Field Paper workshop with veterans at Under the Hood Cafe, Kileen, Texas, November, 2011; photo courtesy Drew Matott 

Founded in 2011 by Malachi Muncy, the inspiration for Button Field Paper was the hand papermaking workshops of Combat Paper Project. Button Field Paper provides artistic space for veterans and community members to discuss military experiences while creating works of art from uniforms and personally significant articles of clothing. Muncy describes the value of the paper making process as follows:

Whether the art is commemorative of an experience or attempts to overcome it through the cathartic process, the communication that happens in and around workshops serve to let people know that an experience does not have to be locked away like an old uniform in the attic of the mind. 

Muncy and his family have found the papermaking process helpful in making sense of their own military experiences, and he has a particular interest in providing workshops for veterans with their spouses and children. Since 2011 Muncy has sponsored papermaking workshops at Under the Hood Café, at Texas State University, and at other locations throughout Texas and beyond.

Button Field Paper takes its name from a button field created in the late 19th and early 20th century by the Holyoke Paper Mill in South Hadley, Massachusetts. During the First World War the paper mill pulped rags and discarded their paper waste – including hundreds of thousands of buttons – as fertilizer for the local farmers. A part of the button field is now owned by Mt. Holyoke College, and buttons are still collected from there today. Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Artists 

Malachi Muncy (Army) 

Awards 

Malachi Muncy (Army) 

Military awards, veteran card from graduation ceremony, and ribbon from Veterans’ Day celebration, embedded into paper pulped from military uniforms (2013)

11 x 17 inches, unframed

Exhibited at: Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

To Play Army 

Malachi Muncy (Army) 

Pulp panting and ink with toy Army men embedded in paper made from pulped military uniforms (2013)

11 x 17 inches, unframed

Exhibited at:

Lawton Red River Veterans’ Center (2015)

Combat Paper Project workshop, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, November, 2011; photo courtesy Margaret Mahan 

Combat Paper Project A Selected Legacy Collection 2007 – 2012 

https://www.combatpaper.org/ 

Founded in 2007 as an arts and activist initiative, from 2007 to 2012 Combat Paper Project addressed the experiences of veterans and civilians reacting and responding to the effects of war, with the voices of veterans and civilians equally welcomed. A team of veteran and civilian artists traveled throughout the U.S. offering papermaking workshops where veterans and civilians created works of art on paper made from military uniforms – many of which had been worn in combat. By taking the experiences of war from the battlefield into the studio, the workshops allowed veterans to reconcile and share personal stories, and they became forums for veterans and civilians to consider the dehumanizing effects of warfare, to contemplate the role of militarism in society, to raise awareness regarding home front responsibilities to those returning from war, and to broaden the narratives surrounding service and military culture.

Those leading Combat Paper Project workshops recognized the methodical process of hand papermaking as calming and rewarding for combat veterans. Many who participated found a new sense of purpose and a new identity. Eli Wright, an Army veteran described the impact of the project on his life.

I was a medic. I enlisted in the military to save lives, not take them. … So the first friend I made in Iraq was confusion. In a detention center, I witnessed a fellow medic beat a prisoner. And I made friends with anger that night. … I made my third friend coming home, and that was shame. … I only had these three friends until I discovered this project. I finally found some new friends. … This project saves lives, it gives us direction—to find we can build bridges and tear down those walls and remake sense of our lives. 

Combat Paper Project emerged as a response to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and to the impact of the wars on those serving at the front and responding at home, and was ignited through connections with activist organizations like Iraq Veterans Against the War and Warrior Writers. The core group of veterans participating in the early workshops – many whose artwork is represented here – honed their papermaking skills with Drew Matott, then completing an MFA in Book and Paper Arts from Columbia College, Chicago, IL. Between 2007 and 2014, the project gained visibility through workshops, demonstrations, lectures, and exhibitions. In addition to the public workshops, artists created a wide range of artwork at university-sponsored artist residencies, and some of that work is now in the collections of museums and libraries throughout the world. An extensive collection of Combat Paper Project materials is archived in the library at the University of Illinois-Urbana, Champaign.

Civilian co-founder, Drew Matott, left Combat Paper Project in 2011, and since then the project focus has tightened to primarily hand papermaking workshops for veterans and military family members. Workshops continue throughout the country, and at four papermaking studios affiliated with Combat Paper Project. Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Introductory Materials 

Detail

Combat Paper Project Dispatches – Edgewood College 

Drew Matott (Civilian), Margaret Mahan (Civilian) and Various Authors 

Workshop, Edgewood College, Madison WI, March, 2011

Litho and relief printing on combat paper with typewritten comments by workshop participants

30 x 8 inches, unframed

Can be displayed individually or as a collection

5 sheets – 2 blank sheets

Exhibited at: Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Combat Paper Press 

Colors of Trees We Couldn’t Name 

Nathan Lewis (Army) 

Coptic Stitch Artist Book

8 x 5 inches

2012

Limited Edition of 200

Exhibited at: Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015 Broadside Prints from the Linen Series

Broadside Prints from the Linen Series 

Craftsman 

From the Linen Series

Drew Matott (Civilian) 

Photo source -- Nathan Lewis (Army)

Collaboration with BluSeed Studios, Saranac Lake, NY, 2010

Relief printing on pulped linen paper (2010)

6 ½ x 13 inches, unframed

Exhibited at: Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Artists 

Mike Blake (Army) 

Vortex 

Mike Blake (Army) 

Collaboration with the Green Door Studio, Burlington, VT, 2008

Pulp painting with American flags and wooden sticks embedded in combat paper (2007)

48 x 52 inches, unframed

Exhibited at:

Texas A & M University (2015) Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Donna Perdue (Marines) 

Amani My Culture 

Donna Perdue (Marines) 

Workshop, Studios of Key West, Key West, FL, 2009

Pulp painting, pulp printing, metal, and beads on combat paper (2009)

43 ½ x 66 ½ inches unframed

Exhibited at:

Texas A & M University (2015) Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Collaborations 

Nathan Lewis (Army) and Jen Pacanowski (Army) 

Peace 

Nathan Lewis (Army) and Jen Pacanowski (Army) 

Workshop, West Tisbury Grange Hall, Martha’s Vineyard, MA, July, 2008

Pulp painting and pulp printing on combat paper (2009)

8 x 11 inches, unframed

Exhibited at: Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Workshop Participants 

University of North Carolina-Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, November, 2010 

USS Shangri La – “The Myth of a Perfect Place” 

Ed Gary (Navy), Chris Arendt (Army/National Guard), Margaret Mahan (Civilian) 

Workshop, University of North Carolina-Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, November, 2010

Lithographic print on combat paper (2010)

12 x 18 inches, unframed

Exhibited at: Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Peace Paper Project 

Peace Paper Project logo; image courtesy Peace Paper Project 

Founded in 2011 by Drew Matott and Margaret Mahan, Peace Paper Project employs the ancient tradition of hand papermaking as a vehicle for personal expression and cultural change – breaking down fibers to make a new and beautiful thing. Using a portable papermaking studio Matott and Mahan travel throughout the world utilizing the papermaking process as a form of public intervention. They regard papermaking as a compelling metaphor for transformation and resiliency, and in collaboration with art therapists in clinical settings, and with staff in a wide range of socially engaged service and cultural organizations they use paper as an expressive tool for coping with trauma, and for responding to current societal issues.

In addition to the workshop offerings, the Peace Paper Project portable studio is often set up on the streets of urban centers so that those who pass by can participate in such socially engaging events as Veteran Paper Workshop, Panty Pulping, and Papermaking with Invasive Aquatic Plants. Each of these different social action happenings focus on specific audiences dealing with trauma – veterans, military families, and communities impacted by war; survivors of sexual and domestic violence; and the earth itself as it copes with human imprint on its environment. The materials pulped and made into paper include military uniforms, under garments and other forms of personal clothing, and non-native plants. Matott and Mahan often gather crowds using a bicycle to manually power their Hollander beater. Not only is this performance gesture designed to seduce and engage the viewer, but it also speaks to craft-making as a form of resistance and subversion. By pedal-powering the beater, the hand-made process is overtly elevated, mass production is covertly rejected, and the way of working is slowed to a speed more in keeping with the 19th rather than the 21st century.

Since 2011 Peace Paper Project has helped develop over twenty papermaking programs that operate throughout the world. Each, in the spirit of Peace Paper Project, uses the papermaking process as a tool for healing and for public interaction. The mission of Peace Paper Project is to strengthen communities world-wide through papermaking workshops, interventions, internships, and hands-on training. Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Series 

Drew Matott printing Pledge of Allegiance on Vandercook Universal IV at BluSeed Studios, June, 2014; photo courtesy Drew Matott 

As the Peace Paper Project facilitators travel throughout the United States and the world offering workshops and interventions to a wide range of artists, therapists, and participants from socially engaged organizations, they find the creative exercises in writing, sketching, carving, pulping, and printing that take place in their workshops and interventions, coupled with conversations and debates with participants, and the rich experiences absorbed overall as the inspiration for the thematically focused arts series that manifest in their own artwork created during workshops or later at artist residencies. Drew Matott describes the Peace Paper Project studio creations as artwork that demonstrates the common ground they have found with their collaborators. Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Mono-print created in response to the 2011 London riots; photo courtesy Peace Paper Project 

riots, revolts & revolution 

2011-2013 

riots, revolts & revolution is a series conceived for Peace Paper Project by Drew Matott, Margaret Mahan, and John La Falce. The artwork created was in response to political uprisings across the globe in 2011 and 2012, many of which took place in the Middle East.

The American news media during this time showcased the efforts of American foreign policy makers, highlighting new democracies established in such countries as Egypt and Iraq. The media view of democratic order and new hope was in stark contrast to the chaotic turmoil experienced by those living through the uprisings.

When the Peace Paper team found themselves stranded on the streets of London during the London Riots of 2011 they decided to make a body of artwork that reflected global uprisings as well as their own experiences. Matott, Mahan, and La Falce used the clothing they wore in London during the riots to make the paper for riots, revolts & revolution. They also created a number of mono prints during a 2011 artist residency in Paris, producing images inspired by burning buildings depicted on the news. A selection of work from that series is included here. Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Benghazi, 2012 

Drew Matott 

Artist Residency, BluSeed Studios, Saranac Lake, NY, 2012

Pulp painting and pulp printing on pulped rag paper (2012)

54 x 24 inches, unframed

Exhibited at:

Lawton Red River Veterans’ Center (2015) Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Flag images; photos courtesy Drew Matott 

Pledge of Allegiance, 2014 

The Pledge of Allegiance was originally written by a socialist in 1865 as a way to covertly unify the working class worldwide. The Pledge was institutionalized by the U.S. Congress and was made a part of the everyday experiences of school children.

Between 1924 and 1942 Congress altered the Pledge of Allegiance to add "of the United States of America" as a way to specify for which nation the Pledge was being taken. This was the result of an increasing immigrant population and of American nationalism in response to U.S. involvement in World War I and World War II.

In 1954 Congress again altered the Pledge of Allegiance, this time adding "under God." This was a Cold War reaction, and was intended as a way to delineate the U.S.A. from the U.S.S.R. The United States is a country where religion is celebrated, while the Soviet Union was considered a Godless nation where the government did not allow freedom of religion.

Growing up, I recited the Pledge of Allegiance every school day with the rest of my classmates and all my fellow American school children from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Yet I never once learned about the history of the Pledge, where it came from, and why it was recited every day at school. So upon researching it, I thought it would be interesting to do a series of broadsides that explored the changes in a very straight and forward manner.

When considering the substrate for the printed material, I was on a constitutional about town after a Fourth of July celebration and lay witness to U.S. flags strewn about the street, discarded, torn, and soiled. I thought about what it meant to celebrate the flag versus to desecrate it. In this case, the wake of a flag celebration left hundreds of flags desecrated. So Margaret Mahan and I gathered up the discarded flags and brought them to my paper studio where I pulped them and made 200 sheets of 14 x 18 inch paper. I then used the paper to print the different incarnations of the pledge.

Drew Matott, November, 2014 Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Pledge of Allegiance, 1865 

Drew Matott and Margaret Mahan 

Artist Residency, Peace Paper Project and Free Your Mind Press, Saranac Lake, NY, 2014

Relief printing on paper made from pulped American flags (2014)

18 x 14 inches, unframed

Edition of 52

Exhibited at: Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Together – Branches of Service, 2014 

Together; courtesy of Peace Paper Project 

The Together series began in 2012 at the first Veteran Paper Workshop hosted by the Hines VA Hospital in Chicago, IL. As an exercise to direct veterans through the papermaking and pulp printing process the Peace Paper facilitators began to use stencils to represent the different branches of service. They saw this as a way for veterans of all branches of the military to come together and celebrate one another’s service, as well as educate civilians about the veteran community around them.

Typically, workshops begin with everyone pulling a sheet of paper from the pulp of their branch of service, and then pulling a sheet from the pulp of all the other branches, and then pulp printing the logo of their service branch on a sheet of paper from their branch. For veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress, traumatic brain injury, or drug and alcohol dependency, the exercise proves focusing and engaging, allowing them to feel comfortable talking with one another about where they served, when, and for how long. When this level of engagement happens the energy shifts, creativity begins to flow, complex and layered compositions are created, and the veterans make prints for their friends and family, and for those with whom they had served.

The success of the first Hines VA workshop inspired Peace Paper facilitators to begin using the “together” and branches of service stencils on college campuses. They found the technique to be an effective way to engage student veterans in the creative process. It has also proven useful in educating civilians by challenging them to make a print of each branch of service and to give the prints away to friends they know who are currently serving. The process makes military service “real” for civilians, and teaches them the difference between the branches.

The Together series is a way to show that we are all in this together – whether you are “boots on the ground” serving in the military, or a civilian at home working with veteran communities. Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Together – US Marine Corps 

(Branches of Service)

Drew Matott 

Workshop, Salina Art Center, Salina, KS, November 2014

Pulp printing on paper made from pulped military uniforms (2014)

9 ¼ x 12 ¼ inches, unframed

Exhibited at: Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Peace Paper Workshops 

Margaret Mahan demonstrates Nepalese style sheet formation at the ROTA Studio and Gallery, Plattsburgh, New York, August, 2013; Peace Paper Project 

Peace Paper Project workshops are a form of art therapy and socially engaged art making, and as such they represent a unique artistic practice. The workshop facilitator is at the crossroads of art therapist, educator, activist, engineer, entrepreneur, and artist. Custom-designed to meet the needs and abilities of each host community, Peace Paper workshops are offered in collaboration with art therapists, social workers, community leaders, and mental health providers. Workshop participants bring in articles of clothing that hold personal significance. They then cut the cloth into small pieces, pulp the fibers, and reform the pulp into sheets of paper. One t-shirt, for example, will make 30 to 50 sheets of paper. When the paper has dried, participants continue their workshop experience expressing themselves creatively by using a variety of techniques, such as pulp painting, pulp printing, and bookbinding, as well as journal writing. In an effort to continue their healing process, participants keep all the paper they make and are encouraged to share it with family and friends. Yet, sometimes, paper is left behind, and these sheets find their way into Peace Paper recipe books or into exhibitions. A selection of such work is included here. Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Workshop, St. Leo University, St. Leo, FL, 2013 

I Deserve to Be 

(Workshop Print)

Margaret Mahan 

Workshop, School of Social Work, St. Leo University, St. Leo, FL, 2013

Pulp painting and pulp printing on paper made from pulped military uniforms (2013)

12 ½ x 9 ¼ inches, unframed

Exhibited at: Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Promotional flyer for the Veteran Paper Workshop at Florida State University, September, 2014; photo courtesy Peace Paper Project. 

Veteran Paper Workshops 

With a mission of delivering a creative skill-set with the potential of enriching life experiences for military veterans – the Peace Paper Project, Veteran Paper Workshop program is committed to giving veterans a safe environment to reconstitute their military uniforms into paper, to providing them with a platform for sharing stories, and to facilitating a process that connects them with their resources, each other, and the communities in which they served.

Since 2011, Veteran Paper Workshop has operated nationally and internationally at universities, foundations, hospitals, art centers, shelters, and community centers. The papermaking process for veterans, like the material itself, means something different to each participant. Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Workshop, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, 2014 

Richard C. Hunt 

(Workshop Print)

Annie McFarland (Civilian) 

Workshop, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, 2014

Pulp printing on paper made from pulped military uniforms (2014)

12 ¼ x 9 3/8 inches, unframed

Exhibited at: Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Workshop, Salina Art Center, Salina, KS, 2014 

Together: Soldier with Dog Tags 

(Workshop Print)

Larry Davis (Navy) 

Workshop, Salina Arts Center, Salina, KS, 2014

Pulp painting and pulp printing on paper made from pulped military uniforms (2014)

12 ¼ x 9 ½ inches, unframed

Exhibited at: Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

United Kingdom Tour 

Workshop participants cutting rag in Belfast, Northern Ireland, March, 2014; photo courtesy Peace Paper Project 

A request for a lecture from faculty at University of St. Andrews about Peace Paper Project’s veterans’ trauma intervention papermaking workshops taught in collaboration with art therapists sparked interest throughout the United Kingdom and a two-month tour developed. During February and March, 2014, Drew Matott and Margaret Mahan traveled through England, Scotland, and Ireland working with art therapists and bringing papermaking workshops to ex-combatants and civilians caught in the cross-fire during the most recent years of “the Troubles” (the collective name for the ethnic, religious, and nationalist conflicts in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, England, and mainland Europe).

Matott’s and Mahan’s commitment to papermaking as a transformative healing process is based in their understanding of it as a sensory-based activity that allows for the making of meaning through symbolic expression by those processing traumatic memories and emotions. Paper formation engages the hands and the body and the soothing repetitive process grounds the maker in the here and now. Through papermaking’s concrete, step-by-step practice, participants are assured a contained and protected experience, are afforded the safety to share whatever they want, and are given the chance to let go of old things so restoration and renewal might happen.

Ten cultural and educational institutions hosted the Peace Paper team in cities, towns, and villages affected by “the Troubles.” Workshop participants brought in clothing that reminded them of that time. It was then cut, pulped and reformed into sheets of paper. During the workshops community members engaged in much needed dialogue about life since “the Troubles.” The largest workshop was in Brighton – where, in 1984, a hotel bombing nearly took the life of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher – and the 175 people who attended found papermaking as a way to acknowledge resiliency and to express compassion. Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Workshop, Phoenix Brighton, Brighton, England, U.K., 2014 

Surviving the Troubles, Brighton 

Margaret Mahan 

Workshop, Phoenix Brighton, Brighton, England, 2014

Pulp painting and pulp printing on paper made from pulped personal clothing, 2014

12 1/2 x 9 1/2 inches, unframed

Exhibited at: Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Artists’ Residencies 

Workshop participant manually pulping milfoil in the Hollander beater during a Peace Paper artist residency at BluSeed Studios, Saranac Lake, NY, 2014; photo courtesy Drew Matott 

Since Peace Paper Project facilitators put most of their energy into engaging with participants at Peace Paper workshops, Veteran Paper Workshop, and Panty Pulping workshops and interventions, a few months each year are set aside for a studio residency that allows for reflection and the time to execute new bodies of work. While residencies have taken place all over the world, their most productive residencies have been at BluSeed Studios, a bustling art center housed in a refurbished 1920s building located deep in the Adirondack Mountains in northern New York. This site, situated along side abandoned railroad tracks, is surrounded by mountain tops and dense wilderness, and is the perfect place for productive creativity as there are few distractions. Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

BluSeed Studios, Saranac Lake, NY, 2014 

Make Paper to Heal – Peace Paper Project 

(1st version)

Drew Matott, Margaret Mahan, Kevin Matott 

Artist Residencies, BluSeed Studios, Free Your Mind Press, Saranac Lake, NY 2014 and 2015

Linoleum and letterpress printing (2015) on pulped rag paper (2014)

14 X 9 3/8 inches, unframed

Exhibited at: Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Panty Pulping Workshops, Interventions, and Residencies 

Panty Pulping Workshop at St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY, 2013; photo courtesy Peace Paper Project 

At Panty Pulping workshops, facilitated by Peace Paper Project, participants share strengths and joys by transforming intimate garments into handmade paper. Through the process of snipping, beating, and re-forming private apparel into paper, personal stories are exposed and the personalities of those participating are revealed. Panty Pulping brings new significance to the papermaking process as makers of all ages and genders vow to promote non-violence – in thought, speech, and action. The act of creating a sheet of paper symbolizes a commitment to peace, and is a physical manifestation of respect and support for survivors of sexual trauma and domestic violence.

Panty Pulping interventions are public events that call for an end to sexual and domestic violence – in all its forms. Breaking down undergarments into pulp and reforming those fibers into new sheets of paper is an action that addresses such unmentionable as sexual assault and domestic violence, while simultaneously encouraging well being and resiliency. Panty Pulping interventions use the hand papermaking process as a tool to promote consent, non-violence, and creative expressions of empowerment.

Panty Pulping is an advocacy initiative with the mission of spreading awareness and promoting healthy relationships. Funding from institutions hosting Panty Pulping workshops and interventions enables Peace Paper Project, in collaboration with care-providers and therapists, to facilitate private papermaking workshops for survivors of abuse. Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Intervention, Alfred University, Alfred, NY, 2013 

Portrait of Malala Yousafzai 

(Workshop Print)

Workshop Participant 

Intervention, Alfred University, Alfred, NY, 2013

Pulp painting and screen printing on pulped rag paper (2013)

12 x 9 inches, unframed

Exhibited at: Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

VETERANS IN THE ARTS (2010-2015) 

Veterans in the Arts papermaking workshop; photo courtesy Suzanne Asher 

Inspired by a 2009 Combat Paper Project workshop and a vision for a permanent place for veterans to make art, Air Force veteran Suzanne Asher founded Veterans in the Arts in 2010 in the Minneapolis and St. Paul area. For the next five years she managed the community-based arts program, working collaboratively with three arts centers – Northern Clay Center, Highpoint Center for Printmaking, and Minnesota Center for Book Arts. The mission of Veterans in the Arts was the facilitation of progressive art experiences for military veterans through supportive programs of discipline-specific classes, theater collaborations, art commissions, and exhibition opportunities. Funding from an Arts Learning grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board in 2011 helped launch the program.

Asher understood that traditional approaches to the arts were too structured for the average veteran, and that gently leading them through a wide range of arts experiences could lead a veteran through conflicted solitude back to the civilian communities surrounding him or her, as well as assist in resolving trauma and teaching new disciplines of self-expression and personal development. Asher noted:

The studio is a very safe place for a traumatized veteran. There’s kindness and warmth and no drugs or alcohol. There is freedom to say or do what you want. 

Artwork included here demonstrates how Veterans in the Arts worked collaboratively with veterans, making it possible for them to create meaningful work and to form personal relationships. Following five years of successful programming, Veterans in the Arts closed its doors in 2015. Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Sunset 

Suzanne Asher (Air Force), Tom Dunne (Marines and Army), Nick Vlcek (Army Reserve), Richard Stevens (Civilian), Hans Koch (Civilian), and Chante Wolf (Air Force) 

Asher – project lead, made the paper, assisted with the printing; Dunne – wrote the words; Vlcek – drew the illustrations; Stevens – master printer, carved the sunset block; Koch –assisted with printing; Wolf – helped make the paper

Workshop, Minnesota Center for Book Arts, St. Paul, MN, 2014

Block printing and silk screening on handmade paper from desert digital and woodland camouflage uniforms (2014)

20 ½ x 16 ¼ inches, unframed

Exhibited at: Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Drawings 

Jesse Albrecht drawings and ceramics, Healing Threads/Cathartic Clay: War, Trauma, and Art, Salina Art Center exhibition, Salina, KS, November 2014 - February 2015; photo courtesy Tara Tappert 

Six drawings by Jesse Albrecht are included in the collection. They speak to his war experiences in Iraq, but also demonstrate how his time in Montana – he teaches ceramics at Montana State University in Bozeman – has infiltrated his thinking and his work. There are also pieces in response to a censoring incident – one of his sculptures was removed from a 2013 MSU faculty invitational exhibition – that express his feelings about what it means to be a veteran/artist. Intensely personal iconography is the format Albrecht uses to share the meaning of his work, life, and view of the world. The pieces are declarative portraits –Sweet Carissa: 3347171, Emerson Art Cowards, and Shock N Awe – or contained, autobiographical shatter zones –Goat Fuck, The Bloody Hand, and Thug Life. Albrecht is an artist, a soldier, and a veteran, and these identities are nearly always intermingled.

For further information about these drawings, see the catalogue for Healing Threads/Cathartic Clay: War, Trauma, and Art, an exhibition held at the Salina Art Center, Salina, KS – https://www.salinaartcenter.org/exhibitions/view/healing_threads_cathartic_clay_war_trauma_and_art/. Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Artists 

Jesse Albrecht (Army/National Guard) 

Thug Life 

Jesse Albrecht (Army/National Guard)

Bic 4 color pen on paper (2013)

22 x 30 inches

Exhibited at: Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Ceramic Artwork 

Ceramic cups by Ehren Tool, exhibited in CitizenSoldierCitizen, Lubeznik Center for the Arts, Michigan City, IN, November 2013 - February 2014; photo courtesy Tara Tappert 

Four War Crocks by Jesse Albrecht and thirty-nine ceramic cups by Ehren Tool are included in the collection. All of this work was initially made for two exhibitions – CitizenSoldierCitizen (2013/14) and Healing Threads/Cathartic Clay: War, Trauma, and Art (2014/15). Iraq War Army Medic Jesse Albrecht and Desert Storm Marine Ehren Tool draw upon their military experiences for their ceramic artwork.

For further information about these ceramic pieces, see the catalogues for CitizenSoldierCitizen, an exhibition held at the Lubeznik Center for the Arts, Michigan City, IN – https://www.lubeznikcenter.org/pdf/CSC-online-catalogue.pdf; and Healing Threads/Cathartic Clay: War, Trauma, and Art, an exhibition held at the Salina Art Center, Salina, KS – https://www.salinaartcenter.org/exhibitions/view/healing_threads_cathartic_clay_war_trauma_and_art/. Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Artists 

Jesse Albrecht (Army/National Guard) 

Blind Spot 

Jesse Albrecht (Army/National Guard) 

Ceramic – War Crock (2014)

14 x 10 inches

Exhibited at: Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

Ehren Tool (Marines) 

39 Ceramic Cups 

Ehren Tool (Marines) 

Clay (2013)

Exhibited at:

Baltimore Clay Works (2015) Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

THE CALENDAR Catalogue organized by Tara Leigh Tappert, Ph.D. Copyright ©, The Arts & The Military, 2015

The ART-ifacts Exhibitions Calendar 

Meredith McMackin, Annie McFarland, and Malachi Muncy at the Healing Threads Exhibition, at the Lawton Red River Veterans’ Center, Lawton, OK, for MEA2, May 2015; photo courtesy Tara Tappert 

2015 

Celebrating Veterans and the Arts, Hylton Performing Arts Center, George Mason University, November 11, 2015 – https://www.hyltoncenter.org/calendar/746/

Homefront and Downrange: Witness the ART in Military Life, Arts Council of Moore County, Campbell House, Southern Pines, NC, June 5-July 10, 2015 – https://www.mooreart.org/programs/visual/homefront/

Healing Threads: War, Trauma, and Art, Lawton Red River Vet Center, Lawton, OK, in collaboration with Military Experience and the Arts 2, at Cameron University, May 14-30, 2015 – https://militaryexperience.org/mea2-art-ifacts-exhibitions/

The Art of War, Texas A & M University, Reynolds Gallery, College Station, TX, April 15 – June 14, 2015 – https://calendar.tamu.edu/?&y=2015&m=04&d=15&eventdatetime_id=23907&

Healing Journeys: How Art Serves Our Military, Baltimore Clayworks, Community Arts Gallery, Baltimore, MD, March 14 – May 9, 2015 – https://healingjourneysart.weebly.com/