Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Art walk features veterans’ work
ROGERS — Art on the Bricks is partnering with the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks to showcase the artwork of U.S. military veterans during its monthly art walk Thursday.
The event, which falls on Veterans Day, happens from 4: 30 to 7: 30 p. m. and will include arts and crafts and live music, said organizer Karen Wagaman of the Rogers-Lowell Chamber of Commerce. The work of 12 to 14 veterans and other artists will be displayed at the Rogers Experimental House at 121 W. Walnut St., she said.
Several other downtown businesses and organizations will host pop- up galleries and live music during the art walk with a Veterans Day theme, Wagaman said.
Soldiers Songs and Voices Northwest Arkansas, a nonprofit that provides free instruments and songwriting lessons to veterans as a form of post- conflict care, will perform music from 4:30 to 5:45 p.m., Wagaman said.
Marine Corps veteran Bob Schmitz, 89, of Bella Vista said displaying his wood- turned items in the art walk feels like making a comeback. Schmitz said he’s participated in a number of art shows over the years, but took a break over the past few years because of the covid-19 pandemic and his health problems.
Schmitz takes locally sourced wood and uses a lathe to turn it into functional works of art, such as candle holders and bowls.
Dan Hoffbauer of Rogers isn’t a veteran, but he does enjoy creating acrylic paintings of local Civil War scenes from Pea Ridge, Fayetteville and Prairie Grove.
Hoffbauer, a Civil War buff since he was young, has put a lot of research into the paintings, including walking the battlefields during the seasons and times of day the conflicts took place, he said.
Second generation artist and U. S. Navy veteran Edmond “Chuck” Blouin of Fayetteville usually exhibits and sells his artwork in his hometown of New Orleans, but got into the art walk through the Veterans Health Care System.
Blouin said he paints the positive aspects of cultures with subliminal undertones that make people look deeper at what appears to be a pleasant scene. For example, his oil painting “One Store, Two Cultures” features a country store, but a Confederate flag hanging on the fence and several old-fashioned ads hanging in the windows give those who take a careful look reason to pause.
While the art walk has a theme each month, this is the first time it has worked with military veterans, Wagaman said. The Veterans Day theme came about through a Facebook meeting with Crystal Doffoney, a health coach for the Veterans Health Care System, she said.
The Veterans Administration has a regional and national creative arts festival, but this year the event took place virtually, Wagaman said. Five business owners and artists from downtown Rogers served as judges in this year’s regional festival and were so impressed by the work that they recommended veterans be invited to display their work during the art walk, she said.