Veteran Arts Showcase 2020 : 8th Annual

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES:

Theodore Berkowitz is a US Army veteran who served with the HHC 2nd BR 81st Armor, 1st Armored Division. Honors include All Army Art Contest at Fort Gordon, GA and Fort Hood, TX, 1968; 4th Army for Best of Show and First Place for painting in the Pentagon, 1st Armor Division illustrated Year Book Fort Hood, TX, 1968. He currently lives with his wife in Croton-On-Hudson NY. tfbstudios@gmail.com

Everett Cox served in the U.S. Army during 1966-69 with service in Vietnam, serving in 1969 as an aerial camera specialist with the 245th Surveillance Airplane Company. He has worked as a laborer ever since. Everett currently is a facilitator of CORE STORIES, performs with Impact Theater's Veterans Project, is a member and facilitator of Warrior Writers and serves as a Vet2Vet Facilitator in Orange County. He is the father of a beautiful son. coxeverett@gmail.com — "I was stationed at Marble Mt. Airbase in Viet Nam in 1969. China Beach was a short walk away, I went to the beach one Sunday. Running my fingers through the sand, I found the medallion and the boot lace attached to it. I've had it above my desk for years. About two years ago, the friend of a friend was returning to Viet Nam. I asked him to pick up a baggie of China Beach sand."  

Penny Lee Deere is retired Army, SFC and served 1975-1995, Woman’s Army Corps, Desert Storm/Desert Shield. She is a survivor, striving and thriving and a Veteran for Veteran Advocate Liaison. Penny is a licensed massage therapist in New York State as well as being nationally certified. It was in massage school that she learned about the mind/body/soul connection and the importance of the arts to make us whole. A Multimedia Artist she participated in the VA’s creative art festivals since 2012, placing locally and nationally in 5 categories: Music, Dance, Writing, Visual Arts, and Drama. In January 2016 she branched out, she started…developing her own individual style. — "I do not feel an artist should be told what they can and cannot do with their creative genius. I also start a veterans group called ART4VETS with the same goal in mind, for veterans to have a place to express themselves freely through the arts. Penylee56@yahoo.com • Web Site: Mind Body Soul by Penny

Ronald Erickson, USMC, served as a M60A1 Tank Crewman with the D CO, 1st TANK BN on Camp Pendleton. Ron serves today as the Program Manager of Frontline Paper, a Veteran-led art project that teaches veterans and active duty personnel to make paper from their uniforms on which they can tell their stories through art and writing. ronericksonart@gmail.com • Web Site: www.ronericksonart.com

Albert Fairweather, encouraged by his father, a WWII veteran, Fairweather joined the military right out of high school and was a jet aircraft maintainer and safety NCO on some of the most impressive combat aircraft: F4s, F5s, F15s and F16s. He served in Spain, Italy, Turkey, Nevada and New Mexico. While based in Europe he became an avid treasure hunter and ancient coin collector, and he also ran marathons all over Europe and the US.  After retirement he worked for United Airlines before launching a second career as a massage therapist. He retired in 2014 but continues to run half marathons, including the famous Bataan (named for the WWII Bataan Death March), operates and repairs classic motorcycles, and he devotes much of his time to plunking on guitar, painting, "rockhounding", and crafts. Albertfairweather242@msn.com

Jim Fallon served in the Army in Vietnam as a medic, 74th Army Reserve Field Hospital, 1968- 69. He also assisted in a local orphanage providing food, toys and extra medical supplies for the children. Returning home he tended bar, played in jazz clubs, worked as a union representative and owned the Half Note Jazz Club in NYC. He started creating art in his 7th decade making handmade paper from repurposed military uniforms at Frontline Arts. He was awarded 1st place at the National Veterans Creative Arts Festival 2015, for his silkscreen print Orphans’ Opus '68 on Combat Paper. He creates art in various media including Frontline Paper, canvas & paper using watercolors, acrylics, pastels, linocut & ink. jpfall40@optonline.net 

Vincent Ferri served in the Army as an intelligence analyst, He was assigned from the 525MIG through USARV to the 4TH PYSOP GP, 7TH PSYOP BN In DaNang, Republic of South Vietnam from 1969-1970. He has a Masters of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design. He is engaged in freelance graphic design for print and the web. He also does environmental investigations for an Orange County attorney and some forensic photography. He is represented in the Study Collection of the Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Art of the Rhode Island School of Design, the Center for Creative Photography, UA, AZ, and has photographs in several private collections. He has done assignments for Modil Oil, American Cyamamid, IBM, Warner-Lambert, Narragansett Electric, New England Telephone and freelanced for the American Cancer Society. He is married to Sheila and has three sons. designworks_5@mac.com. Vincent also operates a political activism web site: www.wallkillwideawake.org

Alison Koffler, spouse of an Army veteran and a Hudson Valley poet, was the recipient of the Green Heron Poetry Award in 2011, and was the 2016 winner of the Bronx Council on the Arts’ BRIO Award for poetry, having won it as well in 1993, 2000, and 2006. Her poems are included in A Slant of Light: Contemporary Women Writers of the Hudson Valley, SUNY Press,2013  and Like Light: 25 Years of Poetry & Prose by Bright Hill Poets and Writers, Bright Hill Press, 2017. She is inspired by the beauty and complexity of the natural world and often likes to photograph it.  Alison is married to Dayl Wise, a Vietnam veteran, who is one of the coordinators of this event.

Steve Kost – "I joined the Navy at 17 years old and earned my way into the Seabees. As a member of the Naval Construction Battalion, I learned skills like teamwork and leadership that would help me secure a job as an Ironworker when I returned to Chicago. I love working outside and my welding has helped me excel as a metal sculptor." kosts@sbcglobal.net • Instagram

Greta Marie Laubscher is the granddaughter of an Air Force veteran. Fourteen years old, she is a sophomore at Our Lady of Lourdes High School in Poughkeepsie, New York. She plans to attend art college to become an illustrator and animator.

Allison Laws is the daughter of a Naval reserve officer and the wife of a Navy veteran. She spent her early years at the US Navy Supply Depot, Seattle WA; and Camp Pendleton, CA. She is married to the amazing George Laws. Allison is a research editor for an international bank and a watercolor artist. She enjoys depicting the beautiful flowers and leaves found here in the Hudson Valley.

George Laws was a Navy Boiler Technician aboard the USS John F Kennedy CV-67, USS Kalamazoo AOR-6 and the USS Ainsworth FF-1090 (1976-78). He is currently a Montrose VA Hospital employee and the VA HVHCS Employee Association president. George is an active member of the veteran advocate community, including chairing the Veteran Arts Showcase planning committee. An avid oceanic conservationist, underwater photographer, SCUBA Instructor: Handicapped Scuba Association & National Association of Underwater Instructors and New York Aquarium volunteer diver. With the increasing scientific evidence of the therapeutic benefits of SCUBA, George is striving to share the amazing sensory and mobility enrichment experience of underwater exploration with others. georgewaynelaws@gmail.com • Website: www.divelaws.com

Benjamin Lopez is a native northern New Mexico artist who works in wood, making Santos and contemporary sculpture for over 55 years. His influence in the Santero tradition in the region has been pivotal in reviving the art form by giving it an exciting relevancy. His work has a wide-sweeping reputation. Ben works in many other mediums as well. — "I’m from Espanola, New Mexico and was drafted into the US Army in May of 1966 with service in Nha Trang Viet Nam, Oct 66 – Oct 67. I have been doing art since I was in high school in 1964. It has been a source of great pleasure for me and has helped me to make a living for our family. I feel I have played a part in maintaining the traditions of New Mexico through my work. I thank God for the blessing of being able to create art for over 55 years."

Christine Mikolajczak was in the Navy during the Cold War. She served at the Pentagon, and worked in war games with the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  She also worked with the Naval Surgeon General and the Naval Medical Command. She was awarded the Good Conduct Award. Honorable discharge. An artist, Christine currently lives in Hyde Park, New York. cjmzak@gmail.com

Walt Nygard Walt was born in Portland, Oregon. American soldier father, artist mother. Raised in the West and Overseas. Graduated high school, Las Cruces, New Mexico. Enlisted in U.S. Marine Corps, 1969. Served in Viet Nam, Philippines and Okinawa. Graduated University of New Mexico, English/Art. Married Nancy Elkin from River Edge, New Jersey. Two sons, six grandchildren, including recent twin girls. Lives in Teaneck, New Jersey. Walt is Studio Manager at Frontline Paper, formerly Combat Paper, NJ. His drawings and prints are a distillation of a lifetime of ephemeral work as a boy, then a man, on Big Chief tablets, high school notebooks, helmet covers and Strathmore pads. Always trying to capture action or dream, Walt found the perfect vehicle to take his art to a different level through printmaking . . . and in a time of digital, online anarchy, a perfect vocation in papermaking. nmwalt@gmail.com

Joseph Patrick O’Donnell served in the US Army 1990-1992. He was deployed to Iraq, Desert Storm during the Persian Gulf War and also served stateside. Honorably discharged. — "I am born of the Viet-Nam War... Father Army 1965-1967, Mother - Native Vietnamese Married and relocated in PA. I was an artist, both strange in genetics and strange for being an artist in a place where they barely taught art. I had talent but no guidance. I would forget to draw by 20 then regained the courage to try again after a brief and failed marriage and health issues that would leave me disabled to do anything else. I studied figure drawing and anatomy at the Arts Student League, NYC. I was privately tutored in color theory from a professor at Pratt institute Brooklyn. I lived in the main NYC Libraries for years and read every book on painting I could. I have observed thousands of hours of tutorials and lectures. I resolved to not sell or show my work until I had 12 years of technical and hands-on training in all mediums including Old Master Grisaille method."

Cyrus Quadland Cyrus is an US Army veteran who served in Vietnam from 1970-72 in Quang Tri, Chu Lai and Danang. He was awarded the Bronze Star and his highest rank was Sp4.  He has been doing art and drawing since age five and in High School was recognized as one of the top students in New England. He is a member of the Art Student League and participant in the ASL Vet Show. cquadland@gmail.com • www.michaelquadland.com

Larry Winters Larry is a USMC combat veteran who served in Vietnam. He a writer, playwright, poet, woodworker and was head of veterans' treatment at Four Winds Hospital for twenty five years. Currently living in New Paltz with his wife Helise. — "I carried a rifle in Nam. I carried a saw when I came home. I carried the hearts of wounded vet as a care giver. I carry a pen to express what the war left unsaid, I carry a walking stick today after my heart was opened by surgery and I saw life again. Go well." larry@lawrencewinters.com • www.makingandunmaking.blogspot.com

Dayl Wise is a husband, father, grandfather and a keen gardener. He was drafted into the US Army in 1969 with service in Viet Nam and Cambodia, 1970. He returned to Viet Nam in 1993, 1995 and 1997 with a different mission, in the form of reconciliation delivering medical supplies. With his wife, the poet Alison Koffler, he is the co-founder of Post Traumatic Press. His poems have appeared in numerous publications, and he is the author of Poems and other stuff (Post Traumatic Press, 2004) and Basic Load (Post Traumatic Press, 2009). He is the program coordinator for the Veteran Arts Showcase. dswbike@aol.com • Web Site: www.posttraumaticpress.com

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Freddy De Los Santos served in the Army, 2003-11 and is retired. He was wounded in Afghanistan, October 2018, amputee above the knee and also served in Iraq.

Medwin Ghabaee served in the Navy from 2011, and was discharged in 2013. "I was curious and wanted to express my creativity and enrolled for the first time in art therapy at the VA. When deciding what to make, I chose a butterfly vase because butterflies represent change. Making something for my daughter was the first thought that popped into my mind. I was eager to present my daughter the final product and excited to give her, her gift."

George Gutierrez served in the Army, 1989-01. He served as infantry Scout, Fire Direction Chef, Military Policeman and was in Operation Iraq Freedom.  

Neil Heine served in the US Marine Corps from 1969, and was discharged in 1971 — "I enjoyed serving my country, joining the military."  

Ernest Hennig is a Navy veteran who served from 1961 to 1980.  

Richard Hirschman served in the US Navy during WW II. His photographs in this Gallery were taken in New York City. He currently lives in Newburg, New York.  

John K. Homan enlisted in the US Marine Corps in 1949, and was discharged in 1952. Active duty was served in Korea. — "I am a 90 year-old veteran who is very proud to serve our country and for the good job I did for the United States and the Marine Corps. If I had to go back into the military, I would join again. Semper Fi!"  

Joseph Johnson served in the Army from 1984, and was discharged in 1989. — "Through my PTSD, I had a lot of anger issues and violence. I was searching for the middle ground and I found it through art therapy, it has always been my safe place. The analogy of the lion was me and my violence. The rose shows that I have a heart and that I seek a middle ground or grey area, instead of all or nothing. The poem represents my success."

Claire Kirkwood served in the Army at Ft. Bragg, NC at the end of Vietnam Era. Her basic training was in the last of the women’s Army Corp before the Equal Rights Amendment was enacted. She served as a cook in a signal battalion in support of the 82nd Airborne. ravencrest.clare@gmail.com

Patricia Parrella served in the Air Force, 1974-78. She was an Electronic Warfare Specialist.

Robert Pektus served in the US Navy from 1963 to 1975, Vietnam Era.

James F. Robinson served in the Navy from 1981, and was discharged in 1985. "I used to love to doodle when I was a child; I never did any real art until I came into the PTSD program where I engaged in art therapy. Art has a calming and soothing effect for me, and it helped to bring my emotions forward. In honor of my family, I named this “Family Savior”, because during the most chaotic time in my life, my family intervened and got me the help I desperately needed for my PTSD."

Larry Valenti served in the Army, Dec. 5, 1966 to Aug. 2, 1968.

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