Honor Calaveras veterans with art

First Sunday Veterans Vignettes at the Calaveras Council Gallery coming up.

Where: Calaveras County Arts Council Gallery Store, 22 Main St., San Andreas
When: April 2, 2017, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

We hope to see all interested artists, writers, and musicians—and especially Veterans—at the gallery in San Andreas on Sunday for a day of creating around the theme of homecoming. 

This will be the  first of five vignettes saluting our Veterans—and their loved ones. We draw our inspiration from Norman Rockwell's poignant homecoming portraits of veterans, but we in no way seek to copy or infringe on his work. Hence, our vignettes seek to be unique. To set the scene of we'll be decorating the stairway in the rear of the gallery, and we'll have models for part of the day.

As part of the project, Veterans will have access to free drawing supplies. All others, please bring your own materials. We will have tables and chairs if you need them.

​We wish to honor our history while recognizing that it can be complicated. History is a tapestry.

Here are a few points to remember.

• Our models will remain as still as possible for a maximum of 20 minutes at each setting. Thank you in advance for your understanding. Also, our models are all volunteers, here for the love of the arts. There is a tip jar and we hope you can help us say "thank you" to them.
• We are working in partnership with the Calaveras County Museum, adjacent to the Gallery. The museum houses some war-time memorabilia you might find helpful. For example, a Blue Star Flag hangs in their lobby beside a vintage photograph of an unknown WWI soldier. They have also allowed us to use a very fragile 48 star US flag for authenticity.
• While we provide the vignette, your portrayal is entirely up to you and your vision. You may include as many or as few of the models as you want. This will become increasingly important as we move forward through the decades. All wars have their share of controversy but conflicts such as Viet Nam even more so. Your art should reflect you...your heart, your vision, your beliefs. We do not expect it to be all sunshine and rainbows. For example, some soldiers in every war never made it home or came home injured. We wish to honor our history while recognizing that it can be complicated. History is a tapestry.

Click here to learn more about our Veterans outreach project

We look forward to creating with you!