Letters Home and A Veteran Artist Art Gallery Exhibit and Reception
Yuba Sutter Arts & Culture works to honor the veteran community by providing a venue for creative expression, camaraderie, and compassion. This is part of the DNA of the organization, not just on Veterans Day, but every day. That said, this year Yuba Sutter Arts & Culture will present two special programs in honor of veterans.
At 10am on Friday, November 11, Yuba Sutter Arts & Culture will offer a streamed program on its Facebook and YouTube channel titled “Letters Home from the Battle Front.” It is a readers’ theater program with nine local community members, including some veterans, reading letters from servicemembers to loved ones back home. The letters are from as far back as the Revolutionary War to present day conflicts. The readings also include a letter from a general to a group of school children and letters to a son placed near his name on the Vietnam Memorial Wall.
That same day, November 11, YSAC will host a Veterans Art Exhibit and opening reception at its Sutter Theater Center for the Arts Theater Art Gallery starting at 5pm. Free refreshments, beer and wine will be served. Featured guest artists will include Aaron Burks, Navy and Army Veteran and visual artist, Bert Johnson, Army Veteran and landscape painter, and Drew Sallee, Navy veteran and ceramist. The guest artists will join Theater Gallery Anchor Artists Dude Green, a Navy veteran and metal artist, indigenous jewelry artist Jesse Harris and George Unpingco, photographer.
Each Veteran artist will have their work on display in the art gallery through the month of November.
In addition, Aaron Burks will talk about his current “Sleeping Giants: Pearl Harbor Survivors Then and Now” project. Aaron has been meeting with the survivors, interviewing them, and then creating portraits of each Veteran as they appeared during their time in service and as they look now. Veterans’ art programs are rooted in the desire to address the needs and improve the lives of California’s Veterans through the arts. They seek to increase equity, access, and opportunities for Veterans to participate in quality arts programming that is sensitive and responsive to their unique experiences.
“Our Veterans in the Arts grants have helped us continue the important, ongoing work we began several years ago for our 14,000+ strong Veterans community,” said David Read, Yuba Sutter Arts & Culture Executive Director. “We created the Veterans Art Park, held bronze face casting workshops for Veterans, presented Portraits of Veterans and ceramics workshops and we enjoy sharing this great Veteran-created art whenever we can,” he added.
For more information about these and other arts and culture events follow Yuba Sutter Arts & Culture on Facebook or check out the community calendar at yubasutterarts.org.