The Veterans Artist Collective is proudly gearing up for “Unconquered” to be displayed during Veterans Week this year and again in February, 2025.The exhibition will be displayed at the Gallery George, located at 140 West Hastings Street, and will feature more than 20 serving members of the Canadian Armed Forces and Veterans from across Canada, showcasing their artwork.Revenue from the sale of the art will directly benefi t the artists and support the Veteran Artist Collective. It is this collective that holds weekend retreats in both painting and blacksmithing at the esteemed Honour Ranch in Ashcroft, BC
Just over the last three years more than 120 Veterans and serving CAF members have taken part in the workshops.Master Warrant Offi cer Christopher Hennebery of the Royal Westminster Regiment is the founder of the Veteran’s Artist Collective.“I founded the Veterans Artist Collective in 2021, as a means for creating positive pathways to mental health through art,” he says. “Our goal is to create immersive art retreats for serving and retired members of the Canadian Armed Forces and opportunities for them to show their art via exhibitions and gallery shows.
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“It’s truly inspirational to see the art that is coming in for the show from our veterans and serving members of the Canadian Armed Forces.”
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“I founded the Veterans Artist Collective in 2021, as a means for creating positive pathways to mental health through art,”
“While it might sound counterintuitive, Canada has a long history of connecting art to war and using it to capture and document its anguish and consequences.
Some of the original Group of Seven was documenting WW1 in the trenches of France before coming back to Canada.
“While our goal isn’t to revisit our members’ trauma through art, we do provide weekend retreats where they are immersed in a new art medium, like Plein Air Painting or blacksmithing.” Hennebery notes that by providing the tools, instruction and opportunities, their members get to break their routine and build new experiences and connections through art.
“Our attendees leave the workshops with a sense of accomplishment and the means to carry on with their art form,” he says.
“Our ultimate goal is to reduce self harm and suicides plaguing our veteran community in Canada and based on the feedback from our attendees, we are doing just that.” Notable artists participating in the exhibition include Jodi Miller, Roger Chabot, and offi cial War Artist, Scott Waters.
The exhibition is in support of the upcoming Invictus Games and the creation of positive mental health programs and opportunities for Canada’s Veterans and serving members of the CAF.“‘Unconquered’ is the culmination of three years of work with the Collective,” adds Hennebery. “We have both emerging and established artists coming together in a fi rst of its kind event in Canada.
“It’s truly inspirational to see the art that is coming in for the show from our veterans and serving
members of the Canadian Armed Forces. And while practicing an art like painting isn’t a sport, the positive end result is the same.
“This upcoming show is like the Invictus Games for artists: it’s a culmination of a lot of hard work, focus and the driving need not to be conquered by our service-related mental and physical trauma. The show and the games are a celebration of the human spirit but in the end, these events will close and we’ll need to refocus our eff orts on those veterans who we have not yet reached. “The demand for our weekend art retreats outpaces our supply so we’re expanding to Ontario and Alberta in 2025.
It’s our genuine hope that the legacy of the games is the continued attention and support of our veterans through sport and the arts.” Pvetartists.ca
