THROUGH THEIR EYES | PERSONAL PROJECTS BY VETERANS

JANUARY 17 – FEBRUARY 22, 2025

Opening Reception at Colorado Photographic Arts Center

1200 Lincoln St, Suite 111, Denver, CO 80203

Saturday, January 18, 2025

5 – 8 pm

All events are free and open to the public

Through Their Eyes | Personal Projects by Veterans features a compelling collection of fine art photography created by 9 Colorado artists who have served in the U.S. military. This unique exhibition is the culmination of CPAC’s Veterans Workshop Series, a six-month program of advanced photography courses provided to participants free of charge. Each project is intensely personal, reflecting each artist’s inspirations, life experiences, creativity, and point of view. 

Copies of the exhibition catalog can be purchased on Blurb for $16. 

(Pictured Above: Drainage, Summit County, detail, by Michael Moore)

EXHIBITING VETERANS

Glenn C. Cole, Todd Darnell, Herb Green, Valery Lugo, Michael Moore, Dick Reznik, Enrique Gautier, Dwight Taylor, and Kevin Weber

Director’s Statement

Launched in August 2017, the Colorado Photographic Arts Center’s annual Veterans Workshop Series gives local military Veterans with a passion for photography access to advanced photographic education free of charge. Since we and our partners launched the program seven years ago, 69 local Veterans have graduated.  

Over the past six months, in CPAC’s new facility at 1200 Lincoln Street, participants learned to refine technical skills, hone ideas into a body of work, create a portfolio, and write about their artistic practice. Their final projects will be shown to the community through an exhibition in the David & Laura Merage Foundation Gallery from January 17 – February 22, 2025.

Each artist was asked to consider a personal project and to explore a narrative that goes beyond a single frame. The result is a broad range of subject matter, because each project is a deeply personal expression of the individual. For example, Todd Darnell’s images of play represented through colorful pinball machines and how these dynamic games bring together all ages. Valery Lugo creates a powerful story on the Cassadaga Spiritualist Camp through her mystical images and artist statement.

As a mentor to the artists throughout this rigorous program, I have seen tremendous growth and development of each artist’s project. It has been an honor to work closely with them, hear their stories, and try to see the world through their eyes.

– Samantha Johnston
Executive Director & Curator, Colorado Photographic Arts Center 

EXHIBITION PREVIEW

Special Thanks

Our Veterans Workshop Series began from a partnership with three Denver-based veterans organizations, including Task Force ISO, VFW Post 1, and The Art of War Project. Funding for the 2024 program was generously provided by National Endowment for the Arts Creative Forces, Mid-America Arts Alliance, Prevent & Prevail, WC & EJ Thornton Foundation, and individuals, with additional support provided by Digital Silver Imaging, Hahnemühle Paper, Metropolitan Frame Company, and Sony. 

Creative Forces Community Engagement Grants are part of the National Endowment for the Arts’ Creative Forces® initiative, in partnership with Mid-America Arts Alliance.⁠