Veteran Artist Program

Born in Robinsdale, Minnesota , Jessie recently retired from the U.S. Army, and has come back to his lifelong passion of art.  He is a painter, sculptor, poet, and a multiple award-winning producer/director/writer (winning both a Telly at the national level and two Addy's, locally).  In the last year he has exhibited several pieces of art at the Creamery Gallery, in Springfield MO.  With little formal art education Jessie is a primarily a self taught artist.  He is very eclectic in his art techniques, ranging from landscapes, impressionism, surrealism, to realism, and his newest technique that he continues to refine...Chromatic Pop.  Able to work in wood, clay, metal, oil, acrylic, water color, and print making; Jessie is a versatile artist.

My art has been a journey of self-discovery and self-expression as a man who celebrates the African American experience and our achievements in sports and music history. It is the process by which I choose to explore my past and future.

I was a sergeant in the South Carolina Army National Guard for 6 years. I did a little bit of everything but towards the last 2 years, I worked in the R3SP Program (suicide prevention). I currently work for SCDNR. I love fishing, the outdoors, and my pets.

Mike Caimona is a Navy veteran and the Founder of Warrior Music Foundation, which provides free music lessons and music therapy to active duty, veterans and families. He is also the founder of 1710 Percussion, a custom drum manufacturing company.

Retired after 24 years military, Bernardine "Bernie" Donato started painting 5 years ago and now teaches workshops to others in her community. "Painting has given me an outlet for my demons and taken me to calmer places. It is my space for solitude where I can tune out, unwind, and create." Aside from the 24 years in the military with combat area deployments, Bernie spent a total of 40 yrs as an RN with 24 of those years in ER/Trauma, and 11 years as a reserve LAPD Police officer in South Central Los Angeles. Bernie is very active in the VAP Community, and also very active in the Team RWB community.

David has produced 27 films, earning more than $1 billion at the box office and numerous awards. He is recognized as an innovator where technology and media intersect. He is the son of a WWII veteran who gave him a deep appreciation for the military.

Susan J. Farese, MSN, RN, a native of New Jersey, is the owner/ president of  SJF Communications, San Diego, CA. SJF Communications, originally established in 2002 in San Jose, CA, provides communications services including Marketing, Public Relations, Publicity, Social Media, Writing and Public Speaking, Photography, Coaching and Legal Nurse Consulting services. Ms. Farese has diversified experience in health care/communications, including clinical nursing practice, management, education/training, research and consulting. Previously, after active duty as a military nurse (’78 -‘90), Susan was owner/president of Prosper Development Systems, a health care consulting/medical-legal consulting firm from 1990-1998. Susan has presented numerous continuing education classes, seminars, and keynotes. She is the author of the book “Poetic Expressions in Nursing…Sharing the Caring” (1993, Vista Publishing, Inc.) and has written poetry and articles on a variety of topics.

Warwick Young is a multi award winning writer and director. Warwick’s has also worked as an actor in theatre, film and television. Warwick is an officer in the Australian Army and saw active service in Iraq in 2006. For those wondering, 10 degrees Celsius is 50 degrees Fahrenheit. :-)

Robin Ludwig (author, poet, and closet Shakespearean) has taught literature and writing in TX and the UK. She has served in the USAF since 2002. She’s passionate about DeCruit, a veteran nonprofit that incorporates theatre, Shakespeare, and science. You will hear Robin talk a lot about DeCruit and Stephan Wolfert. If, after you listen to this episode, you want to hear more about Stephan's story, just click here to go to his episode of the podcast. You can follow Robin on Twitter. Her handle is @robin_renae, and as she mentions in the interview you can also connect with her in the VAP Community

Michael Brown is a former Marine Corps Ground Intelligence Officer. Inspired by the importance of storytelling to culture, he left the military in 2012 to become a filmmaker. In 2015 he co-founded Tomahawk Pictures. Caleb Wells is an actor and producer with Tomahawk Pictures, and a USMC veteran.  A team of warm-hearted creatives with cold-blooded efficiency, Tomahawk Pictures is a New York City based production company that leverages our military experience into methodically executed media production. Proudly a Veteran Owned and Operated Small Business. Operational excellence is our baseline.

Dario DiBattista is the editor of the anthology Retire the Colors: Veterans & Civilians on Iraq & Afghanistan. His work has appeared in the Washingtonian, the New York Times, theWashington Post, the Guardian, Connecticut Review, [Pank], Mic.com, and many other publications.  Additionally, he's been profiled in the New York Times and has been a commentator onNPR, SiriusXM, and for the BBC. He served in the United States Marine Corps Reserve from 2001 to 2007, later becoming a distinguished graduate of the Johns Hopkins University M.A. in Writing Program. He is currently working on a co-written screenplay about a Marine's return home from war. 

Miranda Summers Lowe has been in the Army National Guard since 2002. She is a Modern Military History Curator at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. Miranda has had deployments to Iraq and Djibouti. She served on the team that wrote Army's first official history of Afghanistan. Miranda is also a dog lover. veteranartistprogram.org/031

Kena Dillon is an artist and Navy veteran from Colorado, with her BFA from the University of Cincinnati's DAAP program. Her work consists of paintings done in oil or acrylic, as well as woodworking and welding to create her abstract sculptures.  

Mark Johnston is the Chairman and Director of the Australian National Veterans Arts Museum. Mark graduated from RMC Duntroon into the Australian Intelligence Corps. He served in Bougainville before moving to Melbourne on discharge. Mark is a management consultant working in Defense and utilities. Mark has had a longstanding and personal interest in the Arts and military history. Full show notes at veteranartistprogram.org/029

TERESA FAZIO was a Marine Corps communications officer from 2002-2006, deploying once to Iraq. Her writing has been published in the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Task and Purpose, The War Horse, Consequence, and Penthouse, and several anthologies. For more info: veteranartistprogram.org/028

Mike Dowling is an author, producer, & veteran advocate. Mike worked with production teams on VA campaigns, produced digital content at We Are The Mighty, and has worked on camera in various projects (commercials, films). Mike is also the co-founder of Veterans in Film and TV, (now VME) & LA Vets Orientation. Learn more about the Veteran Artist Program at veteranartistprogram.org

Air Force veteran Stacy L. Pearsall is an independent photographer, author, educator, military consultant, public speaker and founder of the Veterans Portrait Project. BR McDonald and Stacy Pearsall discuss both transitioning into and out of the military, life as a combat photographer in the Air Force, and what Stacy is doing now to honor and thank her fellow veterans. Be sure to check out the show notes at veteranartistprogram.org/026, and while you are on the website, learn how to join the VAP Community.

Roy Scranton is the author of Learning to Die in the Anthropocene: Reflections on the End of a Civilization (City Lights, 2015), and co-editor of Fire and Forget: Short Stories from the Long War (Da Capo, 2013). His short stories, poetry, essays, and journalism have appeared in Rolling Stone, the New York Times, Epiphany, Prairie Schooner, Boston Review, and elsewhere. He grew up in Oregon, dropped out of college, and spent several years wandering the American West before enlisting in the US Army. He served from 2002 to 2006, including fourteen months in Iraq. After leaving the Army he earned a Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s degree at the New School for Social Research, and is now completing a Ph.D. in English at Princeton. His novel War Porn is forthcoming from Soho Press in Fall 2016.

Marco Reininger (Producer) is a scholar of violence and strategies for conflict resolution, with years of experience engaging with war as a U.S. soldier and socio-cultural researcher. In Afghanistan, Marco has observed tribal dynamics, interrogated complicated data sets, and developed intricate solution models for growing peace at the grassroots level. At Columbia University, Marco studied African civil wars, the reasons people take to arms against one another, and how peace occurs. As an artist, Marco has written screenplays, performed on stage, and investigated the lessons ancient drama can teach us about the struggles we face today. Marco will draw on his experiences bridging war, social sciences, and the arts, to help shape a film that educates and explains, while never losing sight of the human story at the heart of the conflict.

Rich Moore used to be in the Marines, and is now an Army Clinical Psychologist. Rich was a founding board member for VAP and also a co-founder of The 6th Branch, an organization near and dear to my heart from my time in Baltimore.

Shawn Ganther is a visual artist and served in the US Air Force, deploying in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Northern Watch. Shawn’s best known piece, “The Thinker” was selected for the VAP Pentagon Exhibit and his artwork will be unveiled on Wild Turkey’s Military Label at the VAP Home Show this November.

Natalie Lovejoy is composer, lyricist, and bookwriter whose work has been heard at 54 Below, The Duplex, Laurie Beechman Theatre, The Flea Theatre, Greenwhich Music House, and in Nashville at the legendary Bluebird Café, and she is listed in The Directory of Contemporary Musical Theatres Writers at Contemorary Musical Theater.com. She was married to a soldier, who deployed to Iraq in 2008-2009 with the 101st Airborne Division, from 2006-2013 and was stationed at Ft. Bliss, Ft. Campbell, and Ft. Totten, Natalie wrote the music, book and lyrics to Deployed, which was produced by the Society of Artistic Veterans off-off Broadway at the Abingdon Theatre Company in November 2013 and again at the Gene Frankel Theatre in January 2014 to sold-out audiences. It was featured in the Musical Theater Factory’s 4x15 in March 2015 and continues to be developed. She has contributed work to the interactive theatre piece Hall Pass (NYU Commissioned), the musical Club Meds, and wrote the score for Veteran Artist Program’s commerical “Movement to Contact.” In addition, her autobiographical short-story “Two Roads” was published in So Say We All’s anthology Homecoming which examines the transition from military to civilian life and will be featured on NPR for Veterans’s Week 2015. When not writing, she teaches voice, piano, and composition. Education: MM in Music Composition from New York University, the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, and the Johnny Mercer Musical Theatre Project at Northwestern University. Professional Member: ASCAP, the Dramatist Guild.

Matt Gallagher is the author of the Iraq memoir Kaboom and coeditor of, and contributor to, the short fiction collection Fire & Forget: Short Stories from the Long War. His novel Youngblood is forthcoming in 2016 from Atria/Simon & Schuster.

Maurice is a former Marine, a poet, essayist, and playwright. Maurice is a graduate of Columbia University and New York University and will begin working towards his MFA in play writing at Brown University in 2015.

Lauren Kay Halloran is an Afghanistan veteran and former military public affairs officer. Her forthcoming memoir chronicles her coming-of-age against the backdrop of war, through her mother’s career as an Army nurse and her own service in Operation Enduring Freedom.

Kayla Williams is the author of Love My Rifle More Than You: Young and Female in the U.S. Army and Plenty of Time When We Get Home: Love and Recovery in the Aftermath of War, memoirs about her experiences during and after military service.

James Connolly has appeared on Comedy Central, HBO, VH1, Comics Unleashed, hosted “Live From Here” on XM Radio and recently recorded a “Blue Collar Radio Comedy Concert”. He is also one of the most played comedians on the Sirius XM Comedy Channels. James was a Marine Infantry Officer and attended Harvard University.

Alex Mallory is a theatrical director and producer in New York. She recently directed "Dijla Wal Furat" by Marine Veteran Maurice Decaul, and her production of Takeo Rivera’s "Goliath" has been performed for veterans and civilians across the country. Alex is a VAP Senior Producer in NYC and continues to serve veterans in theater.

Jason Everman is a musician who played with Nirvana and Soundgarden only to end up in an elite Special operations unit. Jason is a combat veteran, and recent graduate of Columbia University, earning a degree in philosophy. I love this interview because it shows just how diverse and talented veterans are.

Madison Rising strives to create music with meaning; songs that are about something: our military, sacrifice, freedom, liberty, gratitude, and living the American dream. Lead Singer Dave Bray was a Recruit Chief Petty Officer in basic training, a Master at Arms in A-school, and was awarded the honor of Top Dog in Field Medical Service School. He served in the U.S. Navy as an 8404 FMF Corpsman for the 2nd Battalion / 2nd Marines stationed out of Camp Lejeune NC.

Bill O’Brien joined the National Endowment for the Arts in 2006 as Director of Theater. Since then, he has served as a Deputy Chairman of Grants and Awards and currently serves as the Senior Innovation Advisor to the Chairman. Bill has acted on film, television, and on stage in 48 states currently and works directly with military veterans through Operation Homecoming.

Maria Sam Moeller served on a Cultural Support Team that was recently highlighted in the book “Ashley’s War”. Sam currently lives in Virginia Beach, VA, pursing her BFA in drawing and design. Sam and I talk about what it’s like to go through selection and joining an elite force as an artist.

Shannon Huffman Polson is the author of North of Hope; A Daughter’s Arctic Journey. She served for eight years in the U.S. Army as an attack aviation officer and was one of the first women to fly the Apache attack helicopter. I found out in this interview that Shannon is also a singer, something near and dear to my heart.

Roman Baca is a Marine Iraq War Veteran and the Artistic Director of Exit12 Dance Company in NYC and the Artistic Director and General Manager of Ballet Theatre Company in CT. I’ve worked with Roman many times over the last 4 years and I’m excited to share his story on the VAP Podcast.

I had the amazing opportunity in 2013 to be part of the 1st Veteran Immersion Program at The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Elise Terrell and Camille Hebert are producers at The Daily Show, ran the program and have now worked with 70 veterans looking to transition into TV, Film and Media. Jon Stewart's focus on assisting veterans is the reason I moved to New York City and the interview today is my way of saying Thank You to Elise and Camille, the whole staff at The Daily Show and of course Jon Stewart.

Stephan Wolfert was one of the first people I called when I founded VAP and has continued to be a friend and mentor. Stefan served as a medic and infantry officer in the US Army and is currently the Head of Outreach at Bedlam Theatre in NYC and the creator of DE-CRUIT: a program to reintegrate military Veterans using classical actor training.

Sandra Lee earned her B.A. in International Relations with a minor in Voice from Portland State University and served as a Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Army for 8 years completing a tour of duty to Baghdad, Iraq. Sandra is a seasoned VAP perfomer and is making her off-Broadway debut in Comfort Women in July. As a survivor of sexual assault, Sandra is using the power of art and creativity to heal and become a role model for so many returning veterans.

John Lee Dumas is the Founder and Host of EntrepreneurOnFire, an award winning Podcast revealing the journey of today's most inspiring Entrepreneurs 7-days a week. JLD was an officer in the Army and deployed to Iraq where he wrote he wrote his novel The Ancient, which he just released via podcast.

Karen Courington is a visual artist and currently working as a technology consultant in the Bay Area. She served as a senior adviser to Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA). Karen is a Major in the US Air Force Reserve, was an active duty C-17 pilot, and is a graduate of both Georgetown University and The University of Virginia.

Brian Castner is a non-fiction writer and former Explosive Ordnance Disposal officer. He is the author of "The Long Walk", an Amazon Best Book of 2012. The opera adaptation of “The Long Walk” will premiere at Opera Saratoga in July.

Paul Mooney is a Marine, a New Yorker, a writer and a filmmaker. Paul was in film school in Boston when he decided he wanted to serve and became an artillery officer in the Marine Corps. Paul is a now a veteran living in New York City and just premiered a new TV show called Vetted, among other projects.

Rosie Kay is a dancer, choreographer & director. Rosie joins us from the UK and will introduce us to her piece 5 Soldiers – The Body is the Frontline, currently touring with the group she formed, The Rosie Kay Dance Company. Rosie is an Artist in Residence at the University of Oxford and is using dance to connect with the British military.

BR McDonald introduces the VAP Podcast with segments from the first 5 episodes. He also talks about the success of the Veteran Artist Program and how this podcast came to life. Learn how BR grew up in Taiwan as a missionary kid, performed his whole life, earned a music degree and then enlisted in the Army. The VAP Podcast w/ BR McDonald is scheduled to launch on May 19th and will publish weekly interviews focused on veterans in the arts. Guests will include emerging artists and walk through their journey both in the military and in the arts. We will also talk to leading professionals, prominent personalities and well-known organizations focused on bridging the gap for veterans stepping into the creative arts community. Hear segments from the first 5 Guests: Paul Mooney, Marine and Filmmaker Brian Castner, Air Force EOD and Published Author Rosie Kay, UK-based Dancer and Choreographer Karen Courington, Air Force Pilot and Design Thinker John Lee Dumas, Army Officer, Entrepreneur and Podcaster