Artwork created by veterans at the Cincinnati VA is on display through Sunday at Memorial Hall. It's part of this weekend's Veterans Day events. The work comes from people participating in the VA's Creative Arts Therapy / Recreation Therapy program.
Deanna Black is a creative arts therapist. She says the VA offers various forms of art therapy, including music and leisure and sports programs. They take several forms from individual sessions to online and in-person classes and group sessions.
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"People use the program to express their emotions and deal with emotional issues and outlets. It provides a great non-threatening outlet to get those emotions and issues out through drawing, clay, music, various different mediums that they can use to express themselves and cope with things and get those feelings and emotions out in an effective way," she says.
Other participants use the programs to work on social skills, deal with health issues, or assist with their mental health. Black recalls one veteran dealing with attention and focus issues who is now able to sit through an entire hour and 15 minute class and complete his projects. She says the man tells her the program has improved his ability to focus on all kinds of other tasks, too.
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"We have another gentleman that has Parkinson's disease and he shakes and (has) tremors. When he first started in the art classes, he (said) 'This isn't going to work. I'm not going to be able to draw, I can't draw a straight line, I can't hold the pen without shaking.' Now he draws images, he can do straight lines, he can do shapes, he can color in, he can paint without getting paint in another section that he doesn't want it in.
"He's been able to work on controlling his muscles more and (is) able to control the paintbrush or the pen easier — with less tremors, less shaking — while he's focusing on that task."
Black estimates a minimum of five to 10 veterans participate in some form of the program daily. If you add in participants from the VA's Community Living Center and adaptive sports programs, the number is closer to up to 55 people daily.
Twenty-eight veterans have chosen to display their art as part of the exhibit at Memorial Hall. The types of artwork range from paintings and drawings to ceramics, leather work and more.
Black says she hopes people view the works and leave knowing there's more to a veteran than just their service in the military.
"They can be expressive. They can be engaging. They can be extremely talented," she says. "There are so many things they can do outside of just serving in the military ... They can be creative and they can be engaged in other ways."
Gallery Hours:
Friday – 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Saturday – 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Sunday – 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.; 4 p.m. — 6:45 p.m.
There also will be a military history presentation Sunday at 10 a.m. and the Queen City Concert Band “Veterans Salute” performance from 5-6:15 p.m. The art exhibit is free. The presentations are also free but reservations are required.
