The first major exhibition to explore the powerful role craft has played as a channel for creativity, rehabilitation, and transformation in the lives of veteran artists since World War II. Art and Other Tactics: Contemporary Craft by Artist Veterans will feature contributions of artist veterans and the pathways craft has taken through their visionary work. The exhibition will examine the way military service has impacted the outlook of artists over seven decades and led numerous veterans to pursue creative channels. The exhibition will explore how craft is a constructive antidote to the war experience.

Artist veterans have embedded their experiences in the objects they create. In contrast to the most destructive manifestations of war to which soldiers bear witness, craft is fundamentally about construction–physically, symbolically, and ideologically. Using craft as their voice, these artists have transformed their lives through the act of making. The exhibition will highlight four historic eras and the craft that was generated from them, in addition to touching on the start of the Army’s Arts and Crafts program.

The areas are as follows:
1. The GI Bill and the Greatest Generation: Opening the Flood Gates for Craft
2. Korean War Veterans and the 1950s
3. Hidden Scars: Artist Veterans Who Served in Vietnam
4. Craft, Expression, and the Military Today: Recent Years

View the exhibition gallery guide.