- Right here, we have three original paintings by Jim Finnerty.

He was a Vietnam veteran.

- [Narrator] Yvette Pino is always looking to showcase veteran stories.

- He became a painter long after his service.

He's one of those artists that wasn't necessarily a painter before.

His work became very abstract, and it's that abstract quality that really drew people's attention to his work.

- [Narrator] As the curator of art for the Wisconsin Veterans Museum, she was asked to install more than 100 works of art inside the newly renovated Old Main building, a national landmark that shelters veterans at risk of homelessness on the campus of the Milwaukee Soldier's Home.

- [Yvette] One of the things I've always done in my practice as an artist and as a curator is I've presented artwork that tells the military experience, and it's always offered this bridge for people to have conversation because the imagery you're looking at gives you a safe space to tell stories that maybe aren't your own.

- [Narrator] Pino's own military story led her to serve in Iraq until 2008 when she moved back to the States and enrolled into art school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she quickly noticed a disconnect.

- We didn't feel comfortable talking to our fellow classmates, and that was leading to isolation, so I was trying to find a way to bridge that gap and get us able to talk to one another.

Also, because the students and civilians didn't actually know how to talk to veterans.

- [Narrator] And that's what led Pino to start the Veteran Print Project.

In its simplest terms, an artist meets a veteran, a conversation happens, and a print is made.

- The Veteran Print Project has partnered with schools across the country.

Most recently, and I think one of our most successful collaborations has been with the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, Rina Yoon, the printmaking professor at MIAD, and I met several years ago.

And since 2018, I've been working with her in a variety of different classes with her students to pair them up with veterans or veteran organizations like the renovation of the Soldier's Home.

- I think personally, I really felt lucky to have met Yvette.

We teach how to be creative, how to use their creative minds, but then in terms of like, how does my, you know, art communicate?

Who do I communicate?

What is my art about?

And what kind of like impact can my art have?

I think VPP project really bridges, not only just a veteran, but it's just really a way to bridge all these, like, you know, multiple components.

- [Narrator] In 2021, the teachers decided to group MIAD students with local veterans organizations.

While the entire art and community printmaking class toured Milwaukee Soldier's Home, Grace Ranz and Grey Higgenbotham were actually assigned to create a giant print that reflected its story.

- Just learning about the veterans and their experience and how they can have this, like, home for them is just so inspiring, so I never even knew it existed until this project.

- I really loved learning about the history of it, but I really loved this space and thought it was a great place for veterans to live.

- [Narrator] In addition to researching the home's incredible history, the students met with Myron Webster, a Native American artist and Vietnam war veteran who told them about his art and the VA system.

- I didn't really know anything about veterans before this project, so just learning about, like, Myron's perspective and how much they had to go through really was impactful for me.

- We really just thought of the things that stood out to us most about Myron, which was his presence, so we decided to depict his figure on the far-right panel, and then also the geese at the top.

We really wanted to showcase the history of the veteran soldier's home because that was, on top of getting paired with Myron, it was also about representing this veteran community.

On the far-left side, we have the past.

And then to the far-right side, we have the present.

- [Narrator] The woodcut of the print the students created now hangs for all to see in the basement of Old Main, a testament to the Veteran Print Project's ability to frame a fuller picture of what it means to be a veteran.

- I think a lot of times when we talk to service members, we have this preconceived notion of the stories they're going to tell.

And if you offer yourself up to an open dialogue, you realize that there's so many more multifaceted things about a veteran than the stereotypical story of what a veteran is.

(gentle guitar music) - [Announcer] Thanks for watching "The Arts Page."

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