Bradley, WAS Staffer

On March 1, Jessa and I had the opportunity to travel with Paul Alt to a project that he is working on in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  Paul Alt is a Chicago based architect who specializes in designing spaces that can be used for healing.  In Cedar Rapids, Paul is applying his behavioral health research (which includes work with the National Institute of Health and the Department of Defense) to the beautiful Veterans Memorial building that was commissioned in the 1920s and built upon an island on the Cedar River.  In the summer of 2008, intense flooding submerged over 100 city blocks in Cedar Rapids causing severe damage to the city and the Veterans Memorial.  Prior to the flood, the Veterans Commission and the City government had shared this space.  Today, the building is being rehabilitated to serve primarily as a veteran’s cultural center that will incorporate sacred, contemplative and community spaces in which veterans will be able to find many individualized opportunities for growth, health, and integration.  Some of the spaces include a beautiful theater area, a fully functioning kitchen and restaurant, physical fitness/yoga/sauna facilities, and rooms for painting, writing and meditation.

Wood's Stained Glass Tribute

One of the great pleasures of our trip was meeting Mike Jager, the Facilities Manager overseeing the project (Paul’s boss, so to speak).  Mike gave us a tour of the building, as well as a virtual tour through Cedar Rapid’s history.  One of the hallmarks of the building is a giant 24 ft. by 20 ft. stained glass window created by Grant Wood of American Gothic fame.  Mike told a heartbreaking tale about Grant Wood’s endeavors in Cedar Rapids.  It was a trip to Germany to commission the creation of the over 10,000 pieces of glass that went into the window that inspired Grant Wood to create the art for which he would later be famous.  Despite the glory of the window he created (as well as his later paintings), he never gained acclaim in Cedar Rapids.  In fact, his truly monumental window was not even dedicated until 1955, ten years after his death at the young age of 51.

As Jessa, Paul and I road back the four hours to Chicago that evening (stopping along the way for some good German sausage at Bierstube on the mighty Mississippi), I kept thinking about the concept of “creative destruction”.  Creative destruction is an economic name for the concept that when old businesses go under, their destruction makes room for the creation of new businesses.  I thought about how nobody likes a flood, but because of the flood, Cedar Rapids will now see the opening of a newly defined and beautifully renovated Veterans Memorial building.  I thought about the fact that through much of the psychological pain that Grant Wood experienced (the destruction or at least bruising of his ego?), he created wonderful and inspiring art.  In this vein, he seems to fit the cliché mold of many great soul-tortured and societally-marginalized artists.  I also thought about Warrior Arts Studio (WAS) and our mission to help foster story-telling and community with and between veterans and non-veterans.  War is painful in a way that transcends my understanding; is it possible for the societally-marginalized veteran warriors with whom WAS works to create something true (or even beautiful) out of their painful and often psychologically isolated experiences?  And, can this truth reach non-veterans reach non-veterans such as myself?  As a WAS volunteer, I definitely hope so.

We’re excited to be able to launch our NEW website, still in its infancy, but growing fast! A very special thanks to Paul & Ryan for their time, dedication and belief in this project.

Thanks to all the new Vets and Artists we met at the Warrior Summit last week. We couldn’t think of a better way to kick off our new season of programming than being able to share it with our new community.
Now…Get yourself to the Events page and register for a FREE class with one of our great teaching artists and come be a part of the WAS Community.

See you soon.
Jessa & Matt