On Tuesdays, Joey Hatch heads to Heartland Community College for class. She teaches an introductory art class—and all of her students are veterans.
“There is literally nothing in this life that I’ll ever get to do, that isn't because a veteran was there first," she said. "So when this class came up as something that I would not only be allowed to be a part of, but was encouraged to come teach, I was very excited to have the opportunity."
What the students make is up to them. They can take the class for credit, but don't have to. Some make projects that help them process their military service. Some don't. Hatch uses trauma-informed instruction for anything that might come up.
“I am not a therapist. I am not here asking them to tell me their deepest darkest secrets. But if and when something happens, I am here and able to help work through things, and work through things with art,” Hatch said.
Joanne Barnes saw an advertisement for the art class at the VA clinic in Bloomington. Among other things, she is making Christmas ornaments for her family.
“It is funny to see what everybody can do, and not a lot of them have had any art," said Barnes, who is about to turn 90 years old. She served in the Air Force from 1960-67.
"You don't know your inner self until you start trying," she said. "I can see that from my ornaments, and now I'm starting to make really neat things."
Barnes was most excited to learn the pottery wheel.
During the Nov. 4 class session, Jody Cabanaw worked across the room from Barnes, applied gold leaf to a collage inspired by Janis Joplin, in the style of artist Robert Rauschenberg.
Cabanaw was enlisted in the U.S. Army from 1987 to 1992. She trained as an intelligence operations assistant but ended up building ballistic arrow target systems instead. She was stationed in Texas.
"The whole time!" she said. "All these fancy words about, you get to go here and there—I was a desert rat."
Cabanaw is originally from Lexington. Coming home, she says, was a hard adjustment.
“They don't really train you to come back to be a civilian, we don't get enough—I don't know if its training—but the socializing, it's very hard," she said. "I can see why we have a lot of veterans that are out there on the streets."
Heartland's art class for veterans is offered for free, thanks to a partnership with a nationwide nonprofit called CreatiVets. Founder Richard Casper is a Marine who grew up in Woodford County. After serving in Iraq, he moved to the Twin Cities, rode a motorcycle, got a job as a bouncer at Six Strings, and started classes at Heartland Community College.
“I thought I was integrating fine until I started school," he said.
Casper suffered a traumatic brain injury and PTSD. He has tinnitus, arthritis and a back injury.
"I was blown up four times in Iraq, and when I transitioned home I checked out of the Marine Corps not knowing,” he said.
Casper enlisted shortly after the 9-11 terrorist attacks and said the VA's stance on mental health at the time made his diagnoses worse.
“That just led me down a horrible path, so I took art as a copout degree, honestly," he said. "I thought this would be an easy degree I don't have to really focus I can just doodle the whole time."
HCC art professor Mac McAvoy, who retires at the end of the year, saw that Casper had talent, and he provided an outlet for Casper to process things he saw and experienced in Iraq.
“We called it the misfits club," he said. "We would come in on Fridays to open art lab, sit around and paint, and watch movies and eat pizza, and just talk about our pain. I think that also kind of helped him realize how art can open things up,” McAvoy said.
Similarly, for Jody Cabanaw, the CreatiVets program has been a way to explore a different side of herself and connect with other veterans.
“I love it, it’s been the best thing," she said. "The comradery between all us vets—it's like I feel like I am back in the military again.”
