-Week 17-

After 4 months at the National Veterans Art Museum my internship has come to an end. My experience at the NVAM has been exceptionally enriching both educationally and personally. Since I had never held an internship position in a museum art gallery, I had no idea of what to expect from the time that I had chosen to dedicate to the NVAM. I was initially drawn to the NVAM because of the subject matter that the artwork represented and the historical events that ultimately served as the influence for the pieces that were created. The exposure to the first hand accounts of war and its effects serves as a very humbling experience and one that has provided information that I would not have had access to prior to my internship. Due to this, I decided to share the feelings and experiences of those individual's whose stories I felt were compelling and deserved to be heard. It is very simple to turn a blind eye to issues that do not directly affect an individual's day-to-day activities, but the sacrifices that soldiers have made for mere strangers are qualities that should be respected, regardless of politics or personal opinion. Unlike abstract artwork that, although interesting in its own right, is created for aesthetic purposes, the veteran artwork is a testament of the inability to disassociate the basic principles and characteristics of human existence from acts of war.

As a someone who has a significant interest in history, I gained a new understanding of the facets of war and the experiences and personal struggles of the individuals that played an integral role in the events. Despite my knowledge of war from previous courses or books that I have read, I gained a perspective of war and its veterans that cannot be accurately represented unless spoken by those that have been asked to eliminate emotion in order to engage in violence.

I feel extremely privileged to have had the opportunity of working with such an extraordinary group of individuals. The dedication of the staff is remarkable and without it I do not believe that the NVAM would have the impact that it has. It is very difficult to be a part of the NVAM without developing genuine concern for the issues of war and the individuals that are, more often than not, incorrectly represented. My experience at the National Veterans Art Museum was transformative and I wish everyone involved the best of luck.

Thank you for following my blog and I sincerely hope that the information that I provided was able to illustrate my experiences and the incredible information that I encountered.

-Week 16-

I worked on my final project at the NVAM this week and since it involved artwork identification and inventory, I will have enough work to do going into my final week at the museum. This project has actually taken me full circle to my first week at the NVAM because the computer files that I had to identify and organize then are the same ones that I am working with now. The process is essentially the same and, although it is not a difficult project, it is time consuming due to the amount of artwork that needs to be looked through. It is incredible to see the large number of artists that have contributed so much artwork to the NVAM over the years. This alone is a testament to the museum's ability to provide an outlet through which these individuals can express themselves in their attempts to find understanding and meaning. During his visit a few weeks ago, artist David Given informed me that in the beginning stages of its existence the NVAM had close to 90 artists. Today, the NVAM has over 255.

Since most of these artists have submitted multiple works over the years, I am responsible for organizing the pictures of their artwork into easily accessible folders that can be used for future projects. Having been exposed to this artwork continuously over the past couple of months, I have gained a lot of familiarity with the artwork and the stylistic preferences that each artist exhibits. The artist profiles that I previously work with gave me a lot of insight into the contextual basis and motivations behind much of the artwork. I feel lucky that I can look at the pieces with even just the slightest bit of knowledge and understanding. I am hopeful that I will finish the project by the end of next week before my internship at the NVAM is complete.

-Week 15-

An important aspect of this week's project was making sure that the picture files were organized and labeled correctly for inventory and identification purposes in the future. Since there are so many duplicates of specific pieces of art, ranging from scans to photographs, it is very crucial to gather all the examples and place them in folders that can be easily accessed based on artist name. Although there are quite a few pictures that are prepared for use, some need to be modified and formatted so that they can be used on the website or input into FileMaker Pro. Much of my time at the NVAM this week was spent  working on this project because it was important to work carefully in order to insure that none of the picture files were lost or displaced. Since efficiency is directly correlated with organization, everything within the files needs to be as easy to find as possible.

Apart from spending time organizing pictures into their files, I also added descriptions about artwork in FileMaker Pro. Descriptions are a significant element in cataloging because if, by some chance, the artwork is lost the descriptions can be used to positively identify the work. This is not a very complex task but it is time consuming because there are many pieces that still do not have a description. Writing a couple of objective lines about the observed artwork helps to complete the catalog information.

Furthermore, I may get the chance to interview artists about their artwork and their experiences in the last few weeks that I have remaining at the NVAM. Since the virtual museum will also feature interviews, the goal is to get about 100 artists to share their views and inspirations. I do not know if I will be able to take part in this project since I do not have much time left at the NVAM but I think that it will be a very interesting experience.

-Week 14-

This week I was finally able to begin work on the slide scans for the database. The first out of the two days that i was there this week involved finishing up work on the artist profiles for the last three exhibits. The second day, however, I was able to finally begin inputting images into the database that were not hardcopies of the artwork. Since there are so many slides to go through it was decided that a separate Excel sheet should be created for the artwork that is not present in the artist profiles and artwork that the museum no longer has on exhibit, in storage, or has been sold. Since much of the main artwork is already in the system, the most vital goal was to make sure that any remaining images needed in the database would be added to complete the artist files in FileMaker Pro. Although I have only begun with this part of the project, I think that this stage could be the quickest to complete because everything else has already been accounted for.

I had the privilege of meeting a veteran artist this week by the name of David Given who contributed to the first exhibit that was ever held at the NVAM, Reflexes and Reflections. He came in to visit and to make sure that the artwork he had at the museum as accounted for and correctly named and filed. As I was working with him, it was very interesting to hear the stories behind the pictures that he had taken during his service in Vietnam. He had a very vivid memory for the experiences that he had in Vietnam and for the people that were a part of his life during that time. Having been the one that organized his file and scanned the artwork that we were discussing, I felt very lucky to be given an insight into the thoughts of someone who had experienced something that is, on many levels, very foreign to me. I could tell how much Vietnam and the war were a part of his being and the ways in which he wanted to share what he had gone through. I included his photograph, Fallen Timber/Fallen Time below.

*Credit for the photograph goes to David Given.

-Week 13-

This week was a partial departure from finishing up the artist files because I had to assist with gathering pictures for the NVAM Facebook Timeline. Since the museum is very conscious of the influence of social media regarding outreach and marketing, an update of the Facebook page would give followers access to past exhibit photos and events. I was responsible for researching as many past exhibits as I could find in order to gather a photograph that best represented the message of the exhibit. In this way, viewers on Facebook can have an idea of the issues that were addressed through the artwork. Due to the fact that I have only been at the museum since January, this was an interesting project because I was able to see the types of events and exhibits that were available at NVAM.

In the more than 30 years since its opening, the NVAM has tried to reach out to both the community and veterans as a means of shedding light on the issues of war and the post-war experience. The earliest example of an exhibit that I was able to obtain was of the Above and Beyond campaign in 2001; the central picture of this blog represents the exhibit and it is one of the most important installations in the museum. I was able to get a fairly good amount of pictures so I am glad that the Facebook page will be more dynamic.

Since the project lasted only one of the two days that I give to the NVAM, the second day was spent completing the project from last week that involved creating artist profiles for the most current exhibits. It has taken longer to complete because most of the pictures need to be reformatted and edited with software in order to clear up the images and balance the colors of the photographs. I believe that the organizing the slide scans will finally begin next week.

-Week 12-

I was unable to being dealing with the slide scans this week because it became a priority to make files for the artists whose work was featured in the recent gallery exhibits at the NVAM. These exhibits include Intrusive Thoughts, Radical Vulnerability, and the most recent Overlooked/Looked Over. Since these are some of the most recent exhibits, files for the artists were not available and the artwork that was exhibited was not present in the database. The files are not complete with all the paperwork that is required, however, it is important to create preliminary files that can searched for once more information is provided. The process of creating the files is not long but the only tedious task is reformatting the size of the pictures of the artwork so that they can be accepted into the program. I am not aware of any other exhibit for which artists need to be filed but I will not be surprised if something comes up. I am anticipating the possibility of beginning to organize the slide scans next week. This is one of the last steps, if not the last, that needs to be taken for the artist files to be as complete as possible.

It was interesting to make files for artists that were recent veterans rather than ones from the Vietnam war. My ability to relate to the events is much more pronounced and I am able to grasp some of the difficulties that the veterans experienced. Many of the veterans show a dissatisfaction with media portrayals of the war and the military's involvement in the events that have taken place. The exhibit Radical Vulnerability depicts an inability to create a mindset that projects people as "others" and "alien".  Even as soldiers are specifically taught to distance any emotions that may create weakness and a tendency to sympathize, it is very difficult to do so when one is immersed in a culture and a population.

As a professional soldier who is taught discipline, respect for authority, and show no weakness I was touched by the children who are victims of war, they didn't hide any emotions and I could no longer hide my own.

Alejandro Villatoro

*Italicized writing is credited to Alejandro Villatoro

-Week 11-

This week involved inputting several remaining files into the database. All of the information was already available to be processed but the files needed to be double checked so it was required to go back and revisit the artist profiles. Everything is progressing smoothly and I expect to fully start with the slide scans this coming week. It will be helpful to once again have another person helping me with all the data that needs to be sorted and filed. Since the slide scans are already prepared and resized to fit the format of the computer program, other difficulties arise in determining the best way of organizing the work between two people so that the process works efficiently and effectively. I am hoping that we will be able to get through a good amount of the slide scans before my internship ends at the NVAM.


I include below a picture and written work from two artists that were in the last batch of artist profiles to be organized and refiled. As always, each work, written or visual, depicts both a shared and a very individualized experience of war. Although the accounts and pictures that I go through may not always be the most objective, they offer a sense of the emotions and feelings that were formed during their time in the war and much later. I believe that all of these deserve notice because of the sacrifices that these men and women made. 

The Stealer of All Things

We'd seen it trimmed to fit the screen,
turbulent, green, digested.
Then we came to Nam ourselves,
imagining that now we'd see it all,
uncut, and comprehend.

Instead we found a beast
without a name, too dark
and intangible to make the news
– the stealer of all things.

The glory was the first to go...
then youth...then easy dreams...
then truth...then even the need
to have a reason.

Just one thing seemed
beyond its grasp,
relationships.

Sometimes it took those, too.

Gary Tillery


                        **************

                                                  "This Is How You Died (The End)''

From notes and letters:

The figure I draw is the depersonalized soldier, the soldier within, who has suppressed the emotion of the community of war. To me it is impossible to see war as anything but an old habit of thinking, an old frame of mind, and an old male political maneuver. The physical act of war contains many ingredients: the personality of heroism, horror, a strange glamour, destruction, and desolation. I have internalized the experience of the physical act of war and transformed it into the metaphorical gestures of the human form. The living form becomes a brutalized icon.

Richard Yohnka 


*All visual artwork and italicized written work is credited to Richard Yohnka and Gary Tillery.