VETART Mission

VETART’s most basic mission is to teach, make, and share art. VETART’s down-to-earth, open-minded, actions-speak-louder-than-words culture is accessible and simple. VETART approaches art, and teaching art, believing that a society gains a vastly deepened network of visual/psychological power and cohesion by cultivating a visual artistic language that can be shared by all people to all people. For service men and women and their families, the reliance on power and cohesion is strong. VETART uses art and teaching art as a bridge for soldiers and their families to maintain hope and comfort through power, cohesion and engagement as they deal with their conditions.

The Veterans Art Project engages veterans, active duty, spouses, dependents, and veterans' advocates through a process driven, Deep Arts Engagement, DAE©. 

DAE© gives Veterans a voice through art and by providing free classes in  process heavy disciplines (ceramics, glass, wood, and bronze casting).  We work tirelessly to connect military and civilians alike through the process of art making and sharing.

Through hundreds of classes, workshops, and demonstrations across the San Diego region and country, VETART has enabled veterans to connect with others and discover an outlet for expressing their emotions and experiences through the art-making process.

In addition to being strong pieces of art, completed bronze pieces also provide a tool for public outreach and education that reach far beyond the classroom.  Check out work samples here. 

​Why bronze casting?
 
Bronze casting is a tradition that is inextricably intertwined with warriors; it not only helped shape the ancient world through technological advancement, but bronze art has been used to memorialize and make meaning out of human conflict during the times of ancient Greece, Mesopotamia, and China. By learning this skill, we become part of a tradition that transcends time.
 
By joining we hope you feel welcome and part of a community of people that like to connect through art. We are a down-to-earth, open-minded, actions-speak-louder-than-words kind of people.
 
Our most basic mission is to teach, make, and share art. The rest takes care of itself.
 
We welcome you.

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​Meet the VETART Team

Steve Dilley, MFA
​Executive Director of VETART and Instructor 

Greetings my name is Steve Dilley  M.F.A.  I am the director of the Veterans Art Project.  I was moved after 9/11  to help Veterans, active duty and spouses through Art making. I have a profound weight of responsibility to reach out and help other people through Art and the process of Art making. I believe it is urgent to help our contemporary military population to share all the benefits that a life of Art making gives. In addition to running the day to day with VETART, Steve is an Associate Professor of Art/Sculpture at Grossmont College in El Cajon, CA.

Scott Hickey
​Instructor
Foundry Boss/Pour Captain

​My name is Scott Hickey.  I am an Army Veteran who discovered the VETART program in 2015.  This program helped me to realize that I have much to offer other Veterans who find themselves in challenging situations.  I use the creative process as a form of therapy to work through what I would consider daily obstacles and struggles.  This process helps me to not only acknowledge and deal with these obstacles, but to make them a part of the subject matter of my work.  I find the result cleansing to the soul.

Reginald Green
​Instructor

Reginald Green was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. He is a 15 -year, medically retired Navy Veteran. “Reggie” got into art to “heal”,  “explore his creativity”,  and to do something positive and productive to shift his focus off his highly debilitating migraines, headaches, depression, and lower back pain that he acquired from his active duty service.  Prior to finding VETART, Reggie took it upon himself to learn the basics of molding, painting, and expressing himself through sculpting and various or types of art: "When I create art , it allows me to get lost in the process and takes my mind off the pain,” Reggie says.  Reggie is a VETART participant and after volunteering for a year and a half with the organization showing his dedication, willingness , passion for art and helping veterans, he was hired as an VETART instructor and teaches classes at the ASPIRE Center, The V.A. in La Jolla , and at the VETART School of Foundry in Fallbrook, CA.  Reggie currently lives in San Diego, CA.

​Brian Benfer, M.F.A.
​Instructor

Brian received his Bachelor’s degree from Humboldt State University and a Master of Fine Arts from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. He has worked in a variety of media including site-specific installations, sculpture, video, ceramics, painting and performance art. He has exhibited his work across the U.S. and abroad including the Bill Maynes Gallery (New York, NY), the Seto Museum (Seto, Japan), the Latvijas Makslinieku Savienibas Galerija (Riga, Latvia), the Rotermann Art Center (Tallinn, Estonia) and the Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche (Faenza, Italy). Over the last two decades, his work has been included in numerous academic, museum and private collections and he has served at an array of institutional appointments. He currently lives and works in Southern California.

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Jill Brenegan, ATR-BC, LCAT
​Art Therapist and Instructor

Jill has been an Art Therapist for over fifteen years receiving a Masters in Professional Studies in Art Therapy from Pratt Institute in New York.
She is a Registered Art Therapist (ATR), Board Certified (ATR-BC), as well as, a Licensed Art Therapist in the state of New York (LCAT).
Jill has a B.A. in psychology from C.S.U. Northridge and several years of extensive coursework in ceramics, painting and drawing at institutes such as School of Visual Arts and Art Students League in New York. 

Jill has worked with a variety of populations, but over the last ten years has been working with the military active duty and veterans suffering from PTSD and TBI.
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Working as the primary Art Therapist at VETART.ORG has allowed her to merge her love of ceramics with Art Therapy. She hopes to help others experience this medium in a powerful and therapeutic way.

AnnMarie Halterman
Leigh Ann (service dog...VETART’s Welcoming Lead and Top Dog)

Unlike everyone at VETART, I am the untrained, least artistically aware team member. Several years ago Steve and his team saved me from an  uncomfortable social hour and drove me to a VETART class to see what all the hype was about. Thirty minutes later, I was up to my elbow, literally, in casting material! I was profoundly touched by the VETART Deep Arts Engagement (D.A.E) bronze program and I left the VETART class that night with a much clearer understanding of my military experience.

​My focus is to optimize operations and maximize the force impact our programs have on service members, veterans, their families and our communities across the nation. We are building relationships with like minded nonprofits, businesses, government agencies, foundations, and individuals to define and discover ‘home’.
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I love that the VETART culture creates a safe environment for exploration and engagement with others seeking wellness through innovative creativity and understanding. Come join the journey and be part of an engaging, creative, welcoming, and healthy community...a place worthy of calling home!

Heidi Kübler
​Assistant to the Executive Director

Mrs. Kübler was raised in North County (San Diego) with her seven sisters by her mom and dad, a Vietnam Veteran and retired US Postal Service worker. Growing up without television in her home, Heidi and her sisters learned to love music. Heidi sang at the 9:00 “folk mass” at San Luis Rey Mission in Oceanside, playing her guitar from the time she was in second grade until after she graduated from high school. At 15 years old, Ms. Kubler lived one year in Australia as an exchange student through the AFS program. Entrepreneurial by nature, she went to work immediately out of high school and owned three restaurants by the time she was 23 years old. Growing up in Vista, CA with seven sisters on a postman’s salary, she left the restaurant business and turned her attention to college to secure an independent financial future.

​She attended Mira Costa Community College in Oceanside and was in one of the first graduating classes at the (then) new California State University, San Marcos in 1993. Heidi is the first college graduate in her family. Immediately after college, Heidi worked on campus as the interim director of the newly funded Student Support Services program. With two years of professional employment under her belt, she decided it was time to travel again and headed with her bicycle to Switzerland.

There she met and married a Swiss cyclist and has lived off and on in Switzerland and California for the past 20 years. After having her first child, Joel in 2001, Heidi went on to complete the University of San Diego's Graduate Paralegal program and has worked as a senior paralegal for both plaintiff and defense lawyers and experts for more than 20 years. During this time, Ms. Kubler also studied a master’s degree program for Business Organizational Management and had two daughters, Lucy and Roxy.
Ms. Kubler met Steve Dilley nearly 15 years ago and their two families became fast friends. Last year, knowing the Veterans Art Project was growing and inspiring more and more participants, Steve’s wife suggested he hire as Ms. Kubler as his administrative assistant. Heidi joined VETART on February 1, 2019 and is thrilled to use her organizational and business operational skills for good. Heidi’s primary responsibilities include payroll, processing payables, instructor support, outreach, and grant writing.
In her free time, she enjoys cycling, surfing and playing at the beach with her kids. She loves to read, cook, and travel. Heidi speaks fluent Swiss German and is proficient in high German. Heidi and her children currently reside in Oceanside, CA.

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​THE BIRTH OF VETART in our
​Executive Director's Words

​​My own sense of wonder was created through early Art experiences provided by family and the scholastic experience.  Having decided to study Art at an early age (14) I was afforded the space and time to develop on my own terms as an artist.  This allowed me as an artist to always search out new mediums for continued investigation and experimentation.  From ceramics I was introduced to glass blowing and casting leading to the study of hot pour bronze casting.

As an undergraduate, and being enamored of the glazes and forms of Glen Lukens, I wrote a research paper on him.  During the research of that paper I was introduced to the idea that Lukens  allowed "shell shocked" Veterans from WW2 to work with clay in his studio at USC.  Lukens also stated that he observed these Veterans became better socialized and eventually left the studio and went on to earn degrees and lead healthy and productive lives. This was a fascinating and powerful insight.  A nugget of research that I did not fully understand at the time but one that I stored away in my brain like an acorn that would eventually sprout into a seedling that is now known as the Veterans Art Project or VETART for short. 

Living in San Diego CA, with its prevalent military bases and cultures it is hard not to hear or connect with  of the stories of  combat Veterans. 

Being a "Freeway Flyer" slang for people who teach at many different colleges, I saw firsthand how many returning Veterans who were using their G.I. bill benefits to return to school were many times lost in the shuffle of passive classes and no direction in school.

College studio Art courses in general, offer more in-depth interactions that promotes a strong student and teacher connection.  This ability to create lasting and influential relationships is at the crux of why I believe this type of classroom setting is ideal for returning service members.  It facilitates not only art-making skills but fosters vital human connections and even a sense of community. 

All of this has gone into my decision to use my super powers as an artist and educator for good and not evil.  I have been fortunate to have taught the first VETART class at Grossmont College in  Fall of 2009.

Since then the Veterans Art Project has offered Art activities/classes at 3 different colleges: Grossmont College,  El Cajon CA;  Saddleback College,  Mission Viejo, CA; Arizona Western College, Yuma AZ.

In the past year VETART has promoted and produced 7 different Art shows.  This promotion of Artwork produced by Veterans involved with the classes is and continues to be a high priority of the Veterans Art Project.  

Ultimately I believe in the power of ART as a visual language.  One that allows intense personal insight to be gained by the participant.  We as a society gain a vastly deepened network of visual/psychological power and cohesion by cultivating an artistic language that can be shared by all people to all people.  ​

​                        -Steve Dilley, VETART Executive Director