From Combat to Canvas: Veterans make an impact at Denver Art Museum
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DENVER — A motley of colors and textures decorate the walls of the Denver Art Museum’s Community Spotlight gallery. The art on display spans the spectrum of artistic styles, with watercolors and acrylics to the left and photography to the right.
One painting sits in a category of its own, created on a very unconventional canvas — one made of fishing line.
Jim Stevens, one of the local veteran artists featured in this gallery, developed this technique, which creates the effect of one cohesive image on hundreds of individual strings.
Stevens came up with this method after losing his sight due to shrapnel moving in his brain. He was shot in the head during the Vietnam War. Twenty years after the injury, he was in the middle of teaching a class at CU Boulder when the shrapnel suddenly moved during a migraine, damaging his visual cortex and leaving him with extremely limited vision.
“I lost my sight in 30 minutes. That was…” Stevens said, drifting into thought in his backyard art studio. “That was strange. Waking up in the hospital and not being able to see.”
After a period of anger and grief, Stevens’ daughters encouraged him to get back into art, a hobby he’d always loved. Stevens slowly but surely began to teach himself how to create.
Art therapy is an effective form of therapy for veterans, something that Stevens feels on a personal level through his own recovery. Stevens faced a steep learning curve, but having something to aspire for made the hardship bearable, he said.
“That’s why it’s so hard to watch people, especially veterans, give up,” Stevens said. “You can always keep going. You can always learn something new.”
An avid hobbyist of the arts for years, Stevens is now a full-time artist and has sold his work across the country and to several international collectors.
“Beyond the Military: From Combat to Canvas” is his first showing at the Denver Art Museum, and he feels proud to bring veterans’ art to the community. “From Combat to Canvas” is the museum’s first veteran-centered exhibit.
“Guests see something that connects with them in a really special way, or connects with their family's experience,” said Nistasha Perez, creative and public engagement manager at the Denver Art Museum. “We’re really proud to showcase something that is so intimately Colorado, and is so grounding for people who are veterans and have veterans in their lives.”
The Denver Art Museum worked with Stevens and the Veterans Arts Council, a nonprofit that supports the exploration of art amongst veterans, over the course of a year to create the exhibit. Museum associates originally discovered the collection of veterans’ art at VFW Post 1, the VAC’s art gallery in the Santa Fe Art District.
“They had no idea that veterans were doing such quality work,” Stevens said.
The exhibit features Stevens’ painting “Blues Man.” The piece’s subject, a man playing his guitar, is painted solely with black paint, as are all of Stevens’ fishing line paintings.
Stevens said “Blues Man” is a recreation of a photo he took years ago of a man playing guitar on the street. He recalled the captivating nature of the musicians, witnessing the joy that comes with doing something you love.
The inspiration behind Steven’s unique monofilament art method came from Stevens’ grandson, who needed help untangling a mess of fishing line in the backyard.
“I thought to myself, ‘Yeah, great idea, the blind guy is going to help his grandson untangle fishing line,'” Stevens said. “But all of the sudden, the light hit the string and it made it look like it was moving, and I just couldn’t get that out of my head.”
Jesse Eastburn, another veteran featured in the exhibit, used acrylic paint, spray paint and expired tattoo ink to create his painting. The piece depicts a Shinto dragon, representing Eastburn’s personal growth, especially after he left the Navy.
“It’s important for people to know that we aren’t just broken, even though we’ve seen some really tough situations,” Eastburn said. “Sometimes people’s interactions with veterans stop after ‘Thank you for your service.’ So it’s good for the public to see that we’re more than just the stereotypes.”
Stevens hopes to continue experimenting and creating in his backyard studio and sharing his story with others.
“I came up with an expression for myself after I lost my sight,” Stevens said. The saying is taped up throughout his studio. “‘A man with a vision is never truly blind.’”
For more information on “Beyond the Military: From Combat to Canvas,” including hours and admission, visit the Denver Art Museum website.
Type of story: News
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Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. To read more about why you can trust the journalism of Rocky Mountain PBS, please visit our editorial standards and practices page.