ArtPrize 2021: Introducing Ron Leigh

Behind the Artwork

Marching Behind Heroes installation by Ron Leigh

Following his military service, U.S. Navy veteran Ron Leigh eventually ended up at Silver Star Apartments, a housing facility for homeless veterans located in Battle Creek, Michigan. In 2013, while attending Kellogg Community College, Ron studied art, and he created a recreational-based program for Silver Star. The program focused on helping veterans develop positive friendships through music lessons, chess, and video games.

Ron wanted to encourage other veterans to experience community without the aid of alcohol or drugs. After graduating from Siena Heights University with a notable 4.0 GPA, Ron also volunteered at God’s Kitchen, a soup kitchen for the community. Today, Ron works as an outreach case manager, while he continues to create art, serve other veterans, and help the homeless community.

Marching Behind Heroes

After veteran Ron Leigh enrolled at Kellogg Community College, he became interested in art. Before long, Ron developed his own concepts, incorporating many effective creative strategies. His Marching Behind Heroes project, a time-based, site-specific installation, involves the transition of shadows from sunrise to sunset. Symbolically, this continual movement of light throughout the day causes the shadows to appear to be walking across the sidewalk or grass.

The conceptual work also invites the viewer to reflect on a veteran’s sacrificial journey. Ron earned recognition through this very ambitious project, and he continues to explore artistic expression and community engagement. By utilizing art to develop positive outreach, Ron offers the viewer an opportunity to experience empathy—Marching Behind Heroes.

Our new type of ArtPrize venue gives veterans a voice as they share their stories of struggle and healing through art.

Marching Behind Heroes is showcasing at Veterans Memorial Park

A special thanks to Kent County Veterans Services, Zero Day, Finish the Mission, West Michigan Veterans Coalition, and Healing in Arts for making this collaboration of veteran stories possible.

ArtPrize 2021: Introducing Frits Hoendervanger

Behind the Artwork

I'm Still Here - Oil painting by Frits Hoendervanger

Born in the Netherlands in 1947, Frits became interested in art at an early age. His family first immigrated to Canada, and he became a member of the Federation of Canadian Artists at age fifteen. The family later immigrated to the USA, and before becoming a citizen, he was drafted to serve in Vietnam. Self-taught with no formal art school training, Hoendervanger has received numerous awards for his hyper-realistic paintings and standard of excellence.

He is also represented in many public and private collections, including the Michigan Governor’s mansion and the collection of former President Gerald R. Ford. His mural depicting the history of the Grand Rapids Press, previously displayed in the former Press Building lobby, is now part of the Grand Rapids Public Museum’s permanent collection. In 2011, Hoendervanger won the Grand Prize in The Artist’s Magazine’s annual All Media Competition. The winning painting was his ArtPrize 2010 entry. He won 3rd place for his 2012 ArtPrize painting, “Rebirth of Spring.”

The following year, he was commissioned to paint a 25 foot mural for a veteran’s facility in Battle Creek, which was praised by Governor Rick Snyder at the ribbon cutting ceremony on Veterans Day in 2013. As a U.S. Army veteran himself, Hoendervanger’s art continues to stir the audience’s imagination with beauty and grace. Most recently, Hoendervanger was selected to participate in the National Oil & Acrylic Painters’ Society 2021 “Best of America” Small Works National Juried Exhibition, winning the award of excellence.

I’m Still Here

Fifty years after fighting in the Vietnam War, and a short period of homelessness, I still struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and memory issues. Recently, after learning about the relationship between PTSD, Agent Orange, and Alzheimer’s for Vietnam veterans, I painted “I’m Still Here.” The 48 x 72 inch oil on canvas painting depicts my father-in-law’s battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

As I watched the dreadful disease steal away Morley’s health, while fighting my own internal battle, our connection grew closer. “I’m Still Here” represents the loss of Morley and my ongoing health issues, but it also serves as a remembrance of all the veterans and loved ones who have lost their lives to Alzheimer’s. Decades later, though my struggles are very real, life has been good, so I try not to let PTSD be the focus of my daily life.

Our new type of ArtPrize venue gives veterans a voice as they share their stories of struggle and healing through art.

I’m Still Here is showcasing at Veterans Memorial Park

A special thanks to Kent County Veterans Services, Zero Day, Finish the Mission, West Michigan Veterans Coalition, and Healing in Arts for making this collaboration of veteran stories possible.

ArtPrize 2021: Introducing Artist and Co-Curator Pamela Alderman

Behind the Artwork

Decorated broken tree sculptures for Pamela Alderman's ArtPrize 2021 Yellow Ribbon installation

As a veteran wife and military mom, I designed a responsive piece called Yellow Ribbon, in partnership with Kent County Veterans Services, to honor our veterans. But this year, my expanding ArtPrize role included coaching twenty-one veterans in creating their own ArtPrize entries at Veterans Memorial Park. Each of these ArtPrize entries tells the veteran’s story—dealing with homelessness, PTSD, military sexual trauma, and veteran suicide. With the oldest veteran of our group turning 90, our veterans from World War II, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan represent diverse unity.

Although composed of separate ArtPrize entries, our collaborative venue offers freedom of creativity, despite the veterans’ injuries or lack of artistic training. Over the next couple of weeks, I will be introducing the healing art and artists from our new type of ArtPrize venue, where veterans come together to share the story of struggle—speaking hope into their darkest conflicts.

Yellow Ribbon

Yellow Ribbon around tree

Families tie yellow ribbons around trees to represent support for military loved ones returning home; the yellow ribbon also symbolizes suicide prevention. Expanding these traditions, I designed a veteran collaboration, called Yellow Ribbon, in partnership with Kent County Veterans Services. The broken, abstract trees portray the veterans’ resilience despite the long-term effects of PTSD, military sexual trauma, and veteran suicide. Dozens of veterans and their families, ranging in age from 2 to 92, helped sponge-paint the background.

The work also features four 8 x 10 paintings created by veterans. Exhibit visitors are invited to write uplifting notes on yellow ribbons and tie them to the trees, to honor and thank the veterans for their sacrifice. Following the exhibition, the Blue Star Mothers, a support group for military moms, will include the yellow ribbons in care packages for deployed soldiers.

Veteran workshop for creating Yellow Ribbon for ArtPrize

Our new type of ArtPrize venue gives veterans a voice as they share their stories of struggle and healing through art.

Yellow Ribbon is showcasing at Veterans Memorial Park.

A special thanks to Kent County Veterans Services, Zero Day, Office Max in Grandville, and Healing in Arts for making this collaboration of veteran stories possible.

ArtPrize 2021: The Yellow Ribbon Story

Behind the Artwork

Veteran workshop for creating Yellow Ribbon for ArtPrize

The initial concept for Yellow Ribbon took root, in partnership with Kent County Veterans Services, as we set our sights on ArtPrize 2020. Over the next few months, this community-based work involved ten veteran art workshops across West Michigan. We initially planned six workshops, but the interest level kept growing; veterans and their families felt excited to be part of this ArtPrize project.

In early 2020, the first workshop, sponsored by 92 for 22, swelled to capacity with eager vets and their loved ones. At the American Legion in Caledonia, Michigan, Vietnam veterans, along with their grandchildren, produced some beautiful art pieces. Female veterans gathered in Greenville, and aging vets from Grand Rapids Veterans Home also participated. The following month, more than 70 enthusiastic vets, along with their spouses, parents, siblings, and children, crammed into the historic American Legion in Marne to create art.

Veteran workshop for creating Yellow Ribbon for ArtPrize

As the pandemic emerged, the workshops came to a halt. But later in the summer, when the spread of COVID-19 slowed, we met outside with Veterans Upward Bound and WINC (For All Women Veterans), for the next phase of the work. In keeping with social distance protocols, each veteran or family group worked at a separate table and helped paint the background of the large wooden panels. Meanwhile, at Breton Woods of Holland Home, the elderly veterans received personal art kits to create their art pieces within the safety of their own rooms.

Veteran workshop for creating Yellow Ribbon for ArtPrize

Although we faced a pandemic, national political unrest, and the cancellation of ArtPrize 2020, we continued to find alternative ways to safely engage veterans. Everyone appreciated the camaraderie and the chance to be part of something bigger than themselves. As ArtPrize regrouped for 2021, the Yellow Ribbon project proved to be an important opportunity to help galvanize the West Michigan veteran community—especially during such extraordinary times.

Veteran workshop for creating Yellow Ribbon for ArtPrize

We would like to express hearty appreciation to the following organizations for their collaborative involvement in the Yellow Ribbon art workshops:

Color Me Orange Collaboration

Behind the Artwork

Color Me Orange collaborative project

We shared one of our community projects and the corresponding lesson about swimming against the flow of culture with artist Dawn Baker from Alert Ministries. Alert creatively services incarcerated teenage boys at a Dallas juvenile detention center. Due to increased restrictions because of the pandemic, we encouraged Alert to actively seek permission to get the colorful artwork installed inside the boys’ living space—healing art lifts the heart. Previously, no artwork had been allowed, so we felt thrilled to see the finished wooden tiles, painted by thirteen teens, hanging in their common area.

Stories: A Healing in Arts Collaboration

Behind the Artwork

Stories project plan and completion

We are honored to create Stories, a collaboration with Youth For Christ and MDV Housing, located in Kalamazoo, Michigan. For this collective project, students within YFC’s program painted their own unique story on a wooden tile to include in the collage. The work emphasizes the importance of our personal stories and how our narratives define us. We also discussed how, if we need to make changes in our lives, we can rewrite our stories.

Collage of images from Stories collaborative workshop

Stories collaborative/interactive workshop

The Next Season of Growth

Behind the Artwork

Yellow Ribbon around tree

Military families tie yellow ribbons around trees to welcome soldiers returning home. Continuing this tradition as a veteran’s wife, a military mom, and an artist, I designed the art exhibit Yellow Ribbon, which expanded into additional veteran art workshops for artists and non-artists, sponsored by Kent County Veterans Services.

Because of the veteran’s invisible battles with PTSD, military sexual trauma, or suicide—along with prolonged isolation during a pandemic—the projects promote hands-on involvement and a sense of community. Years ago, while living on a remote military base, I struggled with a debilitating sense of loneliness. Veterans also experience isolation when re-entering civilian life and encountering a disconnected public. The spirit of Yellow Ribbon continues by encircling each veteran with creative care, by exploring new aesthetic opportunities, and by providing a friendly space to experience positive social support.

Kent County veterans welcome: No artistic talent required.
Bring your smile and your unique perspective. Swearing allowed.

May Art Workshop – Tissue Paper Leaf Collage

Trees adapt to their environment incredibly well. With the change of seasons, trees let go of their dead leaves instead of clinging to them. In doing this, they make way for the new leaves to form and eventually grow. As humans, we tend to hold on to our dead leaves–toxic thoughts, adverse relationships, or bad habits. Our tendency to rehearse negative experiences again and again inhibits our growth and limits our potential.

For the May healing art workshop, we will create abstract leaf collages with Japanese rice paper and tissue paper. The project focuses on form and use of space, while creating colorful abstract leaf shapes that depict beauty and hope. Throughout life, as we learn to adapt and let go of dead leaves like the trees, we promote emotional resilience and make space for the next season of growth.

Tissue paper leaf collage

June Art Workshop – Plexiglas Tree Reflections

As trees grow, their lower branches often die from the lack of sunshine. When the branches fall off, new cells grow around the wound, creating a knot. Though the knot looks like an imperfection or scar, it provides new pathways to sustain the rest of the tree with nutrients and water. When facing adversity, we also need to find new ways to adapt and move forward.

For the June healing art workshop, we will paint abstract trees with acrylics on plexiglass panels. The project focuses on line, shape, and color to create harmony and balance. If we embrace our imperfections and scars, these important life markers, like the tree knots, signify strength and regeneration.

June Art Workshop - Plexiglas Tree Reflections

Note: Workshop participants will have the option to display their artwork at our August veteran art exhibition.