Art Out of War Exhibit

Art Out of War, an exhibit of ceramic art created during the LH Project’s Veteran’s Residency, opens at the Josephy Center for Arts and Culture on Monday, July 7, 2014 with a reception at 7:00 pm. Doors open at 6:30.
This exhibit features the work of four artists – Daniel Donovan, Jesse Albrecht, Ash Kyrie, and Giuseppe Pellicano who draw upon their experience as combat veterans to inspire and inform their work. During the month of June, each artist has created a variety of work that will debut at the Josephy Center and then become part of a nationally traveling exhibit.
Returning artist Daniel Donovan, who served in the army from 2001-2009 and spent 2003 in Iraq spoke says of his work, “Being a combat veteran, as well as having an unhealthy obsession with existential philosophy and science fiction, has opened my eyes to how truly brief and absurd our lives are…..I work to give these concepts and ideas form, to translate our absurdity into beauty.”
            A veteran of the Army National Guard and Operation Iraqi Freedom, Ash Kyrie says in his artist’s statement, “Right now is the first time in American history that the civilian population has almost no sacrifice or connection to the war that it waged.  For example, during WWII Americans made patriot gardens to ease the precious food supplies for the war effort. . . . Are the red strings that connect us to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq so veiled that we ourselves do not know they exist? I believe that we understand our relationship to the war, but we consciously chose to not recognize it.”
The Josephy Center recently hosted a program and exhibit dedicated to remembering WWII and the impact it had on local veterans, their families and community members. The Art Out of War exhibit brings this awareness to current military conflicts.
“It is important to hear directly from the participants (of military conflict), and the arts provide form where the experience and its result can be remade into something tangible,” said artist Jesse Albrecht, who served from 1996-2006 in the National Guard and was in Iraq from 2003-2004. “Something that allows the outsider – non-combatants – a chance to feel a sliver of our emotions their tax dollars paid for. It is vital to remove the spin from the combatants’ experiences.”
            Through its residency program, The LH Project offers an intimate, private setting for nationally and internationally recognized artists to nourish their creative process surrounded by the beauty of the Wallowa Mountains. This residency, dedicated to artists who are also veterans is an opportunity unavailable anywhere else in the country. The work created here arises from deep exploration facilitated by the serene environment, the diverse facility, and sense of community.
                        For more information on Art out of War or the Josephy Center for Arts and Culture, please contact Amy Zahm at 541-432-0505 or visit www.josephy.org. For more information about the LH Project, visit www.lhproject.org