VETERANS Portrait/Self-PORTRAIT project

The Veterans’s Portrait/Self-Portrait Project was commissioned by the Palo Alto Art Center for its inaugural re-opening exhibition after being closed for an extensive renovation. The exhibition that paired ten contemporary artists with community members to create artworks which would directly engage and reflect public interests. Thomas chose to work with local veterans in a deliberate effort to cross sociopolitical party lines– by directly engaging with members of a more conservative demographic, she sought both to facilitate a mutual respect and to challenge her own assumptions and beliefs. The artist met with support organizations including the American Legion, Next Step Veterans Resource Center, and North Bay Veterans Resource Center, interviewing and photographing veterans who work to provide resources to other veterans in need. The veterans’ own military-era photographs and their handwritten responses to a series of introspective questions introduced an element of self-portraiture to the final works, which were combined with Thomas’s drawn portraits. The portraits, text and military ephemera conveyed the positive aspects of their military service, while the accompanying audio interviews (which could be accessed using a QR code) revealed the challenges that many of the veterans faced.

Claudio Calvo

2012. Archival Pigment Prints, Graphite, Ink, Watercolor, Gouache on Paper. 17" x 47" (triptych)

Charles O. Wallin

2012. Archival Pigment Prints, Graphite, Ink, Watercolor, Gouache on Paper. 17" x 47" (triptych)

Arthur J. Sands

2012. Archival Pigment Prints, Graphite, Ink, Watercolor, Gouache on Paper. 17" x 47" (Triptych)

Justin Chavez

2012. Archival Pigment Prints, Graphite, Ink, Watercolor, Gouache on Paper. 17" x 34" (diptych)

Keith E. Noland

2012. Archival Pigment Prints, Graphite, Ink, Watercolor, Gouache on Paper. 17" x 47" (triptych)

Pat O'Daly

2012. Archival Pigment Prints, Graphite, Ink, Watercolor, Gouache on Paper. 17" x 34" (diptych)

Ralph E Curtis

2012. Archival Pigment Prints, Graphite, Ink, Watercolor, Gouache on Paper. 17" x 47" (triptych)

Shirley j. Butler

2012. Archival Pigment Prints, Graphite, Ink, Watercolor, Gouache on Paper. 17" x 34" (diptych)

Susan McLucas

2012. Archival Pigment Prints, Graphite, Ink, Watercolor, Gouache on Paper. 17" x 34" (diptych)

William Whitmire

2012. Archival Pigment Prints, Graphite, Ink, Watercolor, Gouache on Paper. 17" x 34" (diptych)