Upcoming Exhibit: "Portraits and Memories:
Legacies of Service"
Date: 8/22/2017 -
10/28/2017
The
National Veterans Art Museum (NVAM) is proud to present its upcoming
exhibition, Portraits and Memories: Legacies of Service by Chicago-area
artist Jeanine Hill-Soldner. The exhibit will showcase two series of oil
paintings: Portraits of American Veterans, and Memories of an Era:
Reflections of Our Time.
Portraits
and Memories: Legacies of Service presents a unique perspective on an
experience of military service that is often overlooked–that of the spouse,
parent, sibling, or child of an active duty service member or veteran. The
juxtaposition of veteran portraits with scenes of family life highlights an
integral aspect of military culture that is rarely explored. Jeanine Hill-Soldner
grew up in a military family. Her father, Sgt. Maj. Dan L. Hill, was a 30-year
U.S. Marine Corps Veteran who served in WWII, Korea, and completed twotours in
Vietnam. After he passed away, the artist felt compelled to create work that
honored his service and experiences along with those of other military veterans
and members of their communities. Personal stories and memory are integral to
her work as Hill-Soldner links the experiences of veterans and those of their
loved ones through a poignant visual program.
Portraits
of American Veterans
The
creation of Portraits of American Veterans began in 2009 and features
the likenesses of 24 veterans who sat in the artist’s studio as she sketched
and painted the initial impression of each person. Each veteran was asked to
bring significant objects from their military experience with them, and to
share memories of their service as Hill-Soldner painted which further aided in
the capturing of each individual’s personality
.
Memories
of an Era: Reflections of Our Time
The
paintings in this series are derived from family photographs taken near the
Kaneohe Marine Corps Air Station in Oahu, Hawaii during Dan L. Hill’s first
tour in Vietnam, paired with photos he took himself while deployed. In each
painting, scenes of the everyday life of the women and children of the Hill
family are depicted alongside the daily realities of war featuring the men of
the Marine Third Reconnaissance Battalion, Bravo Company. Together these
paintings develop a chronicle that reaches across time and space to connect
events as they may have occurred simultaneously, many miles apart. These works
underline the significance of memory and illustrate how experiences shape
veterans, their families, and military communities as a whole.
Jeanine
Hill-Soldner’s work offers an important perspective on war as seen through the
eyes of the children and spouses of service members. Side by side these two
series of paintings offer a glimpse into the way in which military service has
both defined the artist’s life, and driven decades of contemplation about the
impact that war has had on hers and others’ lives.
Portraits and
Memories: Legacies of Service will be on display beginning Tuesday, August 22nd through Saturday, October 28th,
2017 with an
