VETART Mission
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The Veterans Art Project (VETART) is a community based arts organization serving Veterans, Active Duty, Spouses, dependents, their caregivers, and the community through process-driven, Deep Arts Engagement, D.A.E.(c) and Art Therapy. D.A.E.(c) with Art Therapy options provides a process-intensive arts encounter proven to help Veterans and Active Duty (some with post-traumatic stress, TBI, and MST) find their voice and work through the life-changing process of transitioning from military to civilian life.
VETART offers free classes in the process-heavy art disciplines of Ceramics, Glass, Woodworking, and Bronze Casting. We work tirelessly to connect military families and civilians through sharing art-making in a safe, welcoming, relaxed, and fun environment. This engagement is also equitable: we offer open enrollment access to free art classes that take place in state of the art facilities, taught by artists of all cultural/social backgrounds with and without MFAs. We offer artistic support, development, and dignified display of completed artworks. These dignified displays help include the greater civilian community through artist/participant presentation. Through on-site community arts classes, demonstrations, and exhibitions across San Diego county and the country, VETART provides space for Veterans to connect with others and discover an outlet for expressing their experiences through the art-making process. By identifying, encouraging, and promoting all artists, VETART has a proven record of being an inclusive organization dedicated to promoting a spectrum of voices. By amplifying these voices through promotion to instructor level while working with Veterans, leadership is demonstrated and becomes a model for new participants. VETART continues to engage the larger community through the promotion, development, display, and amplification of many voices. Our people and experiences not readily visible in the contemporary Art milieu. This VETART model has always been and is the basis of our ecosystem as a See One, Do One, Teach One Organization. Through participation VETART students have a clearly identified path that is easily followed for increasing arts engagement and discovery. Our force impact is to create leadership opportunities to lead the arts, wellness, and community development at the local, regional, state and national level. At VETART we listen to images, so we may lead by actions. |
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VETART TeamSteve Dilley, MFA
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Reginald Green
VETART Instructor, US Navy Veteran
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.
Armando Telles
Director of Partnership Development
Armando Telles is a civic engagement professional from Southern California who has been providing consulting and project management services--nationwide--for non-profit organizations and political campaigns since 2002. Born and raised in Los Angeles, he was enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and served on active duty, and has been a resident of North County San Diego since his return to California from the East Coast in 2004.
As a sociology major, Armando has served in elected and appointed leadership roles for city, county, and state governing bodies.
He is an Indigenous, first generation Chicano, and is a brother and a father.
In his role with VETART, Armando fosters strategic partnerships between cultural and representative groups to support VETART programming for veterans and military families.
As a sociology major, Armando has served in elected and appointed leadership roles for city, county, and state governing bodies.
He is an Indigenous, first generation Chicano, and is a brother and a father.
In his role with VETART, Armando fosters strategic partnerships between cultural and representative groups to support VETART programming for veterans and military families.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Thalia Isen, MFA
Ceramics Instructor
Thalia Isen is making pots at VETART. She recently placed about a hundred of her bisque fired porcelain bottles around the perimeter of VETART's Vista studio.
Thalia would like to show you how she makes her work, and help you succeed at making yours. She has been a ceramic artist for 15 years, and teaching renews her enthusiasm for the craft. She says that the experience of interacting with the clay is the real payoff. The pots are artifacts.
Thalia does intend to glaze her huge collection of unfired bottles someday. When fully fired, the pots will be durable. In a 500,000 years, broken shards of Thalia's pottery will still exist, burred deep in the Earth's crust. The glaze will have melted away, but the porcelain will stay the same.
Thalia finished her MFA in 2018 at Claremont Graduate University. She got a BA in philosophy in 2001. She served as project manager for the Saddleback College Veterans Memorial project, which is an architectural ceramic landmark in Mission Viejo, CA. completed in 2010. She has been teaching ceramics since 2011.
Thalia would like to show you how she makes her work, and help you succeed at making yours. She has been a ceramic artist for 15 years, and teaching renews her enthusiasm for the craft. She says that the experience of interacting with the clay is the real payoff. The pots are artifacts.
Thalia does intend to glaze her huge collection of unfired bottles someday. When fully fired, the pots will be durable. In a 500,000 years, broken shards of Thalia's pottery will still exist, burred deep in the Earth's crust. The glaze will have melted away, but the porcelain will stay the same.
Thalia finished her MFA in 2018 at Claremont Graduate University. She got a BA in philosophy in 2001. She served as project manager for the Saddleback College Veterans Memorial project, which is an architectural ceramic landmark in Mission Viejo, CA. completed in 2010. She has been teaching ceramics since 2011.
David Pirl, MFA
Ceramics Instructor
I first had the opportunity to work with Clay before I was a teenager two of my older siblings were able to take a class from a local clay artist. I watched my older brothers make pinch pots and vases and owls, which were pretty popular at that time. I just emulated and copied some of the things they were doing adding little tidbits of my own inspiration. Many years later I decided to go for my MFA In Studio Arts.
In my many years of teaching since then what continues to fascinate me is the human learning process, people in general and social and group dynamics.
Clay is a fantastic medium so malleable and plastic, so many options. One can make functional wear on the wheel or by hand, or objects that serve no function at all other than to engage and intrigue.
In my many years of teaching since then what continues to fascinate me is the human learning process, people in general and social and group dynamics.
Clay is a fantastic medium so malleable and plastic, so many options. One can make functional wear on the wheel or by hand, or objects that serve no function at all other than to engage and intrigue.
Jessi Goralski
Media Manager
Born in Riverside County and raised in San Diego County, Jessi Goralski is a Southern California native and strives to serve the community that raised her through community building art endeavors. After graduating from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2017 with a Bachelor's of Arts Degree in Anthropology and Art, Jessi returned home and became involved in the Veterans Art Project, an organization whose values reflected her interests in community wellness through the arts. With Veteran grandparents and a first responder parent, Jessi recognizes the need for wellness resources that address the effects of service on an individual and those close to them.
At VETART, Jessi's duties include social media, design, administrative support, and studio support (foundry and ceramics/glass studio).
In her spare time, Jessi enjoys print-making, painting, learning new art mediums, surfing, gardening, and camping.
To contact Jessi, please e-mail jessi@vetart.org.
At VETART, Jessi's duties include social media, design, administrative support, and studio support (foundry and ceramics/glass studio).
In her spare time, Jessi enjoys print-making, painting, learning new art mediums, surfing, gardening, and camping.
To contact Jessi, please e-mail jessi@vetart.org.
Cultural Equity Statement
To support a full creative life for all, The Veterans Art Project aims to create a space that promotes cultural equity, supports all of our members and staff, and provide accessible facility in which Veterans, Active Duty, Family Members and Care-givers from all nationalities can create Dignified Displays of Art.
DEFINITION OF CULTURAL EQUITY
Cultural equity embodies the values, policies, and practices that ensure that all people—including but not limited to those who have been historically underrepresented based on race/ethnicity, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, socioeconomic status, geography, citizenship status, or religion—are represented in the development of VETART programming; the support of artists; the nurturing of accessible, thriving venues for expression; and the fair distribution of programmatic, financial, and informational resources.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS & AFFIRMATIONS
To provide informed, authentic leadership for cultural equity, we strive to…
DEFINITION OF CULTURAL EQUITY
Cultural equity embodies the values, policies, and practices that ensure that all people—including but not limited to those who have been historically underrepresented based on race/ethnicity, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, socioeconomic status, geography, citizenship status, or religion—are represented in the development of VETART programming; the support of artists; the nurturing of accessible, thriving venues for expression; and the fair distribution of programmatic, financial, and informational resources.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS & AFFIRMATIONS
- In the United States, there are systems of power that grant privilege and access unequally such that inequity and injustice result, and that must be continuously addressed and changed.
- Cultural equity is critical to the long-term viability of the arts sector.
- We must all hold ourselves accountable, because acknowledging and challenging our inequities and working in partnership is how we will make change happen.
- Everyone deserves equal access to a full, vibrant creative life, which is essential to a healthy and democratic society.
- The prominent presence of artists challenges inequities and encourages alternatives.
To provide informed, authentic leadership for cultural equity, we strive to…
- Pursue cultural consciousness throughout our organization through substantive learning and formal, transparent policies.
- Acknowledge and dismantle any inequities within our policies, systems, programs, and services, and report organization progress.
- Commit time and resources to expand more diverse leadership within our board, staff, and advisory bodies.
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.
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.
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
