Art exhibit provides another means for local veterans to serve

Published 7:00 am Thursday, July 6, 2023

Thanks to a robust art therapy program at the Georgia War Veterans Home, local veterans still have a way to serve.

This service, though, comes by way of creating unique and beautiful pieces of art that can be enjoyed by the entire community.

“A lot of people are very helpful to the veterans, but they want to help, too,” said Michelle Flood, activities director at GWVH. “They served, and they just have that in them — that desire to serve — and so this is a good way for them to serve … This, in a way, is like their way of giving back.”

The community will have an opportunity to enjoy a variety of art created by local veterans as Allied Arts hosts the “Thank You for Your Service” exhibit through July 21. All pieces displayed will be works by military veterans from GWVH, and the event will also be a way to honor them for their service.

This is the first time Allied Arts has hosted this exhibit, and Flood said the variety of pieces represented are a combination of work that has been done over the years and some newer pieces. Her hope is that the exhibit will provide the community with a nice introduction to what the veterans at GWVH have done and are doing in terms of art.

Each Tuesday at GWVH, veterans participate in an art therapy program at a very nice art studio made possible thanks to donations of art supplies through the years from the Lake Oconee Elks Lodge.

“That has really helped us have a nice, robust art program,” said Flood, who is also a certified art therapist and certified art therapist supervisor. “We do a wide variety of activities here, but the art program is particularly huge for that reason because we just have so much support.”

The art program GWVH has built in turn has been invaluable for the veterans, particularly in giving them a different outlet of expression.

“Some of them tend to lose some speech and some of their cognitive abilities over time, and some of them that are in the art studio, they’ve even lost full use of their hands, but with art, you don’t need 100 percent of those abilities,” Flood said. “Anybody can create, and so it sort of provides that unifying space for them, so we have this wide range of cognitive and physical abilities in there just creating together.”

Flood said she also looks at this event as a “We’re back party” of sorts. While so many activities were paused due to the pandemic and the sensitive population that GWVH serves, Flood said they are trying to get back to normal with activities programs. She wants to let people know now that they are back out into the world and show the community the wonderful things they’ve been doing.

Kristin Allen, program coordinator at Allied Arts, said they are honored to host the exhibit as a way to give the veterans an opportunity to get their work out into the world. In addition, it’s also a great way for the community to honor local veterans.

“I wish that people would just come out and support these folks because we love the fact that we’re giving them an opportunity to get their stuff out there,” Allen said.

The exhibit runs through July 21. The Marlor House Art Center will be open Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. throughout the exhibit.The community is encouraged to come by and see the veterans’ art and thank them for their service.