Grantee Spotlight: Warrior StoryField

“Through the medium of art, we’re hoping to make visible the invisible wounds of war, and to give voice to the unspeakable. For our warriors – and from the perspectives of their family members, friends, and other civilians, too – the art we create together represents emotional expression and transformation.”

Earlier this month, your Community Foundation announced $5,700 in Veterans Fund grants to four nonprofits serving local veterans. Among them is Warrior StoryField (WSF), a collaborative art experience that bridges the gap between veterans and civilians by fostering community through the creative process.

According to WSF founder Robert Bellows, “Art is a powerful agent of change. Art can move hearts. Art can change minds. And art can bring understanding to things that can’t otherwise be understood.

“Grants or donations of any amount make a big difference for us, to help cover the costs of consumables – we go through breathing masks, gloves, welding rods, and other tools and materials like water. It’s easy to destroy gloves when you’re working with hot metal.

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“But it’s about more than money. What it’s really about is the community supporting us. When I told our guys about the Community Foundation grant, they said ‘awesome.’ It really touches their hearts to know that people are supporting them while they’re exploring the things that are hard to explore. There’s such beauty in that.”

Indeed, one Warrior StoryField participant puts it this way, “I came home from Vietnam and hid for more than 40 years, never telling my friends or family what I’d gone through. Most didn’t even know I was in the military, let alone Vietnam.

“It wasn’t until I landed at Warrior StoryField that I found a community that allowed me to trust again. This community saved my life. I can now own the wisdom I carry from the experience of combat, as well as holding myself in silence for decades.”

Some 14K veterans live in Boulder County. Learn more about how the Community Foundation’s Veterans Fund supports local vets and their families, and donate TODAY – Veterans Day – to double your gift with our $25K match.

“We provide vets with a sacred place for connection, conversation, and expression that goes beyond words,” continues Robert. “Out here surrounded by farmland, a lot of memories and emotions get stirred up in our conversations, and what wasn’t previously a topic of conversation suddenly becomes a discussable subject.

“As we work together and learn together – welding things together and building something beautiful together – we draw closer, we talk, and we ask the hard questions.

“I tell them to use whatever they need to express themselves, creatively. So while we’re talking, they’re also learning and developing a craft with full freedom of expression.

“I tell them there are no mistakes. Mistakes are opportunities for added beauty.”

To date, some 50 local veterans from six wars have created myriad large-scale sculptures out of recycled metal. Among them, a 16-foot dragon with an open heart and an 18-foot phoenix – symbols of soldiers going off to war, returning home, and what happens in between.

According to Vicky Dorvee in the Left Hand Valley Courier, “The project’s ripple effects are incalculable. WSF participants speak in college classes and on podcasts about everything from war to suicide to the healing process.”

Concludes Robert, himself an artist, “Through the medium of art, we’re hoping to make visible the invisible wounds of war, and to give voice to the unspeakable. For our warriors – and from the perspectives of their family members, friends, and other civilians, too – the art we create together represents emotional expression and transformation.”