The Paintbrush Became My Security Clearance

Date2011

MediumDrypoint on plexi

Dimensions12 1/2 × 19 in. (31.8 × 48.3 cm)

ClassificationsPrintmaking

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Escalette Endowment

Object number2020.1.27

Label TextVeteran: Yvette P., US Army

Yvette had an amazing story to tell. Her narrative evoked a variety of visually-imaged translations. What struck me most, and became the salient feature of the dry-point print created for this project, was her role as an artist in the military.

During Yvette’s narrative, she related how she had been selected out by Major Fitzpatrick to do specialized projects, because of her drawing and painting skills. While deployed in Kuwait & Iraq, completing two tours of service, Yvette created emblems, signs, and murals (Rendezvous with Destiny). She even emblazoned gigantic landing fields with symbolic eagles, using jet fuel to thin the paint.

I saw an important continuum in this aspect of her story, especially since the context within which I know Yvette today is as a fellow artist, one who currently pursues advanced studies in the field at UW-Madison. I thought that this thread, one of determination, challenge, physicality, and working with ones hands, was significant to her life, and thus it became the perfect center around which I visually interpreted her narrative.

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Not on view

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