- In this addition of Arteffects, a new memorial honors Nevada's fallen.

- [Man 1] It's an artistic approach to a memorial.

First and foremost, it is a memorial for fallen Nevada warriors an their families.

- [Host] Military uniforms receive a new life.

- Everybody participating in that project could see this transformation that was happening for me, as well as for themselves.

- [Host] Bringing light from the midst of war through stained glass.

- [Man 2] I think when people are together and are touched by something together, I think that brings some kind of unity.

- [Host] And the healing power of art.

- When the artists themselves just interact with each other, it's really wonderful.

- It's all ahead on this edition of Arteffects.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Funding for Arteffects is made possible by Sandy Raffealli with Bill Pearce Motors.

(upbeat music) Meg and Dillard Myers, The Nevada Arts Council.

Heidemarie Rochlin, In memory of Sue McDowell.

And by the annual contributions of PBS Reno members.

- Hello, I'm Beth Macmillan and welcome to Arteffects.

In this special episode, we bring you a memorial day combination of Arteffects segments and beyond, that pay tribute to all the brave men and women who have served our country.

For our first segment, we unveil Battle Born, a memorial built to honor Nevada's fallen service members, dating back to the civil war.

It incorporates a sophisticated architectural design to enhance the experience of those who visit the memorial while paying homage to the sacrifices of our state's heroes and their loved ones.

(upbeat music) - Nevada will never forget.

We will never forget the sacrifice of our servicemen and women, and their families.

And so this beautiful, beautiful memorial, etched an eternity, The Battle Born Memorial, this monument bears the name of every fallen warrior from our state, is an everlasting memorial to their service and their sacrifice.

(upbeat music) - The memorial is a piece of art, it's beautiful.

I think the best part, I mean, my favorite part of the memorial, is seeing the names shine through onto the pavement, especially in the evening time.

It's just really quite unique and I think is going to be a great asset, great memorial for the state of Nevada and for our veterans.

It started out with an idea and has now come forward into this beautiful memorial for our veterans.

And it's very emotional for a lot of people.

It's emotional for our families, but for them to be able to see their loved one's name up on this memorial, I think is going to really help them in their healing.

- It gives every veteran and veterans family member, a place to where they can come to and reflect.

Sometimes when a family has a loss, they find that they're out there, they're all alone after the ceremonies and such.

This way it gives them an opportunity to come back and recognize the fact that their loved ones are not forgotten.

- For the gold star mothers to be able to have something like this, is just, it's food for the soul for us.

It's very, very important.

You need to have a place to go whether you lost your son, you lost your mother in these wars.

- It's a sanctuary for them to remember but we do want it to be very peaceful and that it is something that they can really just sit there and focus on their loved ones and feel a sense of peace.

The experience is beautiful, but it's them just honoring their memory.

So we try to just do it as delicate as we could and try to not be in their face but make it a special space for them.

- It's an artistic approach to a memorial, and I think the way we try to address it.

First and foremost, it is a memorial for the fallen Nevada warriors and their families.

- The challenge of designing something like this that is quite honestly private in a very public setting, was we wanted to almost create a room, but you didn't want it to be a room, right?

So it had the two walls and the ceiling but it still had to have a sense of openness.

And that's where you have that privacy when you walk in but you're still very connected to the capital complex and kind of the environment.

- We really spent time in dissecting the environment, the conceptual context of what this is really supposed to do.

It's a memorial honoring warriors and soldiers who have sacrificed everything.

And so how can we translate that versus being a typical wall.

- The materials that we chose for the project were indicative of material elements that are found in the actual military themselves and (indistinct) and steel happened to be one of the elements that we really chose, ultimately allowing for the ability to kind of evolve as it kind of ages.

We really wanted to make this art piece, a piece that one looked like it'd been here for 100 years and two in 100 years from now it still looks relevant and becomes beautiful.

Brass, it was a really key element that we wanted to choose for the name plates.

Brass is heavily used within the military.

It's really a beautiful, polished element that once it ages, still has a beautiful sense of tarnishes.

- Nevada is a wonderful state with the veterans and they do a lot with the gold star mother families.

And it's just a joy and very uplifting to know that they have all this here for the people of Nevada.

(soft upbeat music) - To visit Battle Born in person, head to the State Capital Grounds in Carson City.

It's located between the Supreme Court building and the Nevada State Library and Archives building.

For our men and women in uniform, creating art has proven to be helpful in life after the military.

the David J Drakulich Foundation for Freedom and Expression in Reno, is home to combat paper Nevada.

Through the project, military uniforms are transformed into paper, which is then turned into different types of art.

The transformative process is healing for veterans as well as families of military members who have made the ultimate sacrifice.

- I remember when I first started to cut David's uniform, I had this shock of, can you do this?

Should you do this?

You can't uncut it.

I can remember feeling I was shaky and my mouth was kind of dry.

And I went ahead and cut.

And then it went into the beater.

And I remember watching these little pieces flow through the water, and there was something renewing about that, just watching the little pieces just getting sifted and crushed, and the fibers being liberated.

And then when I made the sheets of paper, that fear and everything just sort of turned into something new that was good 'cause at that time I was pretty depressed.

I am co-founder of David J Drakulich Foundation for Freedom of Expression.

And our vision statement is Art Heals War Wounds.

We started working as a foundation as early as 2009 after our son was killed in 2008.

We were able to establish the combat paper in Nevada project.

We cut up uniforms or any kind of cloth, cut them into postage stamp size pieces and put them in the beater.

- This is part of uniforms that we cut up and we shred.

And we add this to the beater, and we beat it.

It's a metal wheel, and it just beats it.

It beats the fibers, that way we don't cut the fibers and the fibers sit back in together and they form paper, and it is very loud.

- The fiber becomes so small and kind of forms a slurry with the water that it's mixed with.

And we pour that into a batch and sift it out with a mold and deco.

And form the sheep by cushing them onto a Pelon, and then drying them.

(upbeat music) - And that's what it looks like.

We do big papers, big flags, colorful flags, cranes or a gummy.

As a veteran, combat paper has opened up friendship doors.

- To be able to start to express my personal feelings and views about what I had lived through, was so empowering.

I realized I had gone through this uniform, is a symbol of pain and loss, and grief, and stuff I don't really agree with sometimes.

And this whole outta control thing where all I can do is look at this thing and feel like crying to where I overcame that by cutting it up and overpowering it, I turned it into something I wanted and that was a huge turning point for me in my healing process.

- To learn more about combat paper, Nevada, visit arthealswawounds.com.

I want to take a moment to tell you about another way that you can entertain your curiosity about the arts in our region with Art Views, pbsreno.org has launched a brand new online writing column, we are calling Art Views, featuring contributions from local arts leaders, posted online every week.

Each of these talented professionals represent a rich variety of backgrounds in the arts.

If you enjoy Arteffects, then you'll also enjoy Art Views, posted every week on pbcreno.org/artviews.

Bringing light from the midst of war, encapsulates the essence of a remembered light.

A stained glass art exhibit in Salt Lake City, Utah, the art installations are created from shards of stained glass from destroyed houses of worship during World War II.

- I lived in England by the coast and we live closest to the European side of the country.

And so it reminds me of how the beaches were all mind and Bob wires you couldn't go on the beach for all the years of the war.

And so again, that brings the brokenness of that and the horror of that and what should be a beautiful venue.

(upbeat music) - The two sponsors of this exhibit are the Utah district to Rotary International and the Salt Lake Interfaith Roundtable - It's been a joy for us to have them.

And of course, we are privileged to have them because they're owned by the Interfaith group at the Presidio, San Francisco.

They're not ours.

We've just had this great privilege and these are exquisite pieces and very, very fragile.

So it's just a remarkable opportunity but we're very grateful to them for allowing us to have had at this this time and to be able to display it and for their help.

And supporting how it should be is displayed and setting it all up.

And yeah, it's been a great experience.

- The art exhibit originated really with Frederick McDonald, who was a chaplain in the army, traveling around Europe at the end of World War II.

When he was in Coventry, he went to the bombed out cathedral and was moved deeply by the senseless destruction of something of such great beauty.

And how long it took to build and how quickly it was gone.

And he picked up some shards of the stained glass windows 'cause he wanted to remember the feelings that he had in the place.

He ended up doing that at 24 other houses of worship throughout several countries in Europe.

He mailed the shards home with thoughts that he had about the place.

He always had wanted to do something meaningful with them that would remember and make people aware of the horrors of war and the longing for peace.

And when he was past 90, he was living in a senior facility and at dinner one night, the conversation turned to stained glass and he said, "I've got some under my bed."

And his dinner companions were intrigued and said, "And where did you get these shards?"

And when he started telling them the stories of these places all across Europe, they were deeply moved.

And there was one woman that was particularly insistent that we need to make something happen with these.

Her husband was a, he did stain glass as a hobby and she arranged for him to be put in touch with a French woman, a stain glass artist in Oakland Armel Larue.

Armel ended up meeting with chaplain McDonald and originally they were thinking about making one big window and incorporating all 300 charts of glass and having something memorable about it.

But the more Armel talked to him, his memories of each of these places and of the people and the human stories, was so poignant that she decided we just need to do a piece for each one of these houses of worship.

And she started on that endeavor and engaged the help of 12 other stained glass artists.

So 13 glass artists are the origin of this exhibit.

- It's called remembered light, obviously because it was remembrances from the second world war.

And I find that particularly interesting for myself because I was born in England.

I was born during the war and remember very clearly the years after the war, going to school with a gas mask and similar activities.

So this was very close to me.

And there's particularly one picture in here or one display in here that is about Coventry Cathedral, which of course is embedded in the British memory as being a horrific time when that cathedral was destroyed.

(soft upbeat music) Very early in the second world war, it was destroyed by the Germans.

And of course, nothing could be more horrific to British people and seeing one of their buildings which was probably 500, 600 years old destroyed.

And because of that, the allies which of course were Britain and America, they did go over to Germany and do a bombing raid on the city of Dresden which many people recall from their history.

And the whole city of Dresden was destroyed by fire bombers, was the first time they had used in century devices.

And that was strictly in retaliation for the destruction of the cathedral in England.

And so, I always point out the futility of war when I talk about that.

That it was sort of tit for tat because as far as I know, there were no munitions factories in Dresden.

It was a very famous historical city in Germany.

And so it was probably one of the most destructive things that could have been done.

- A big part of the motivation was concerned about the division and polarization that's been growing in our country and trying to get people to stop and think about it, and to see if there are things we can do to help redirect that to something that's more healthy.

One way is just bringing them into this space because you get all kinds of different people here together, experience the same kind of thing as they take time to look at the pieces and to read the messages.

And there's such deeply human stories here that I think when people are together and are touched by something together, I think that brings some kind of unity.

- We have seen people leave here in tears.

They have read everything.

They've looked at it all and it just is internalized with them, that they have to do something, we all have to do something.

It's not just one person.

We all have to do something and it's an overpowering realization.

And I think this exhibit has provided that for people.

And we all never know, they leave, they may sign their name in the book, they may write something very beautiful in there.

And you don't know, but you hope that after six weeks of this exhibit, that we have changed by allowing people to come and view all of these.

It changed people.

(soft upbeat music) - A career in the armed services requires dedication, perseverance, and sacrifice.

When our men and women come home from a tour of duty, the memories they bring back are sometimes painful and deeply affecting.

Thanks to one Reno mother whose son never came home.

Many veterans have begun to heal and transform their pain through the power of art.

(upbeat music) - David was a prolific artist from the very beginning, drawings with pencils, crayons and all the way up to acrylics and mixed mediums.

He experienced as many different art forms as he could.

He painted avidly.

When 911 occurred he was 16 and that news really did change his life.

He eventually decided that he needed to join the fight for our freedom.

So he did join the fight and was with the 82nd airborne until 2008.

He was going to be coming home and he had to fulfill a few last missions in his vehicle, traveled over.

And IED and it'd exploded.

And the people in the Humvee with him were injured, but he was killed.

We cleaned out his room.

We found paintings we didn't know he had, he would just stuff them under his bed.

So we just pulled them all out and we lined them along the walls.

And we just gazed at them.

(upbeat music) I went back to work and found that was pretty difficult.

So I signed up for as many art classes as I could fit in my afternoon schedule after teaching at Cold Springs Middle School and I found that indeed it was helping me.

So that was the beginning of our ideas.

- She wanted to start an art program for the veterans to honor her son and to uplift other veterans.

- I am co-founder of David J. Drakulich Foundation for Freedom of Expression.

And our vision statement is Art Heals War Wounds.

We began giving money to local art institutions and didn't find that very fulfilling for our personal leads.

And eventually I bumped into an organization that was then called VSA.

And I explained to them what I was hoping to do.

And they allowed me to actually teach a class, printmaking to veterans and the class got bigger and bigger and we outgrew it.

VSA helped us to create a relationship with the BA.

I met gene Gene and he has been such an amazing supporter of our project.

- I am very excited being part of the David Drakulich art program.

And that's what we do here at the VA Hospital in Reno, Nevada.

What we try to do, is come up with an individual plan for each veteran so that they can experience progression in their own way.

- We have photography.

We have writing, we have yoga, we have art, we have leather.

it's wild.

It allows you to escape, be here around veterans that got your back.

No one's judging you.

They don't care.

We mess up in front of each other.

We keep the political stuff down and you get to forget all that and be in a safe environment.

And it's priceless.

- We've all served a different periods of time.

So we have different problems, but they can come in and talk to somebody, 'cause a lot of people they don't want to talk to the doctors or whatever, but here's somebody that's went through the same things that you went through.

So they, I think by talking to him, it kind of gets the stuff out.

- The program absolutely changed my life.

I mean, things were going okay but it was kind of a humdrum thing.

And in my case, I don't normally share this, but it's like all the kids are out of the house.

There's grandkids now, I'm living by myself.

My mother had passed away.

So that was like totally me and it was like, wow, what do I do with my time?

And so anyone in that position can go in any direction.

The art cat class certainly put me in a positive direction.

- One of the veterans that really touched me is Ross.

He's really, really inspirational.

- GENE introduced me to watercolor and I was a little nervous about it at the time, but I thought it would be a good experience and it was better than I ever thought.

Doing the American flag is, I'm really surprised, I just put blue down behind the stars.

And when I look at it, it's the wonderful thing.

- When I come into the class and they begin to create artwork, you can see a change come over there.

The power of art, no one has even measured that, we don't even talk about it, but it is so far reaching and it touches every facet of their lives.

This is what this program was created for.

- I can't imagine how many of us vets lives it has saved, even possibly mine.

- When I look back at my own process from the beginning of January 9th, 2008, this great amount of pain that didn't seem something you could survive.

And being able to express myself through the arts, I have proven to myself that art does heal war wounds.

(soft upbeat music) - And that wraps it up for this edition of Arteffects.

For more arts and culture, and to watch past episodes, visit pbsreno.org/arteffects.

Until next week, I'm Beth McMillan.

Thanks for watching - [Narrator] Funding for Arteffects is made possible by Sandy Raffealli with Bill Pearce Motors, Meg and Dillard Myers, The Nevada Arts Council, Heidemarie Rochlin, In memory of Sue McDowell, and by the annual contributions of PBS Reno members.

(upbeat music)