Bryan Moore said the first time he showed his psychotherapist his art, he was told to go to art therapy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moore had served in the military\u2019s special operations for 23 years, with seven combat tours. He said that since then, he\u2019s experienced PTSD, depression, and suicidality. Art, he said, helps him cope. He uses graphite on vellum\u2014a better, stronger alternative to paper that won\u2019t tear under his sharp, precise pencil\u2014to create highly detailed pieces, generally from photographs. Many of those pieces depict scenes from his combat experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moore\u2019s work won the 2015 Veteran Creative Arts Festival, a competition he entered at the recommendation of his art therapist, but he said the recognition isn\u2019t why he does it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not for anybody else. It\u2019s mainly for me and it helps me,\u201d he said. \u201cIt helps me work through those feelings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While art has been his outlet, Moore said he knows that not every veteran will find it as helpful as he did\u2014but he encourages other veterans to try it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI try everything that they ask me to try,\u201d he said of his work with different therapists and methods of coping with his mental health. \u201cIf they say draw a picture, draw a picture. It doesn\u2019t have to look like anything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOne thing doesn\u2019t work for everybody\u2026 if you find it and that\u2019s your healing, then that\u2019s it, and you won\u2019t find it unless you try it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Moore, there\u2019s a sense of timelessness that comes with making art. He said he\u2019ll often start working on a project with either a drink in hand or a playlist on in the background, work until it runs out, and then step away. When he returns to the art, he said he often doesn\u2019t even remember the time he spent working on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen I get into that zone, and I\u2019m drawing, I\u2019m in the moment. I\u2019m right here, right now\u2026I don\u2019t think about anything except what I\u2019m doing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although many of his pieces are images from his combat experience, Moore said he really just waits for an image to grab him. Often, he\u2019ll start a piece but not finish it. Just as often, however, he said he\u2019ll feel compelled to do a certain drawing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Right now, for example, he said he\u2019s working on a picture of his wife\u2019s hands. \u201cThere\u2019s just something about her hands that I had to do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s no forcing art for him, he explained. In fact, he said when he used to make guitars, he instantly lost all interest in the craft when he had to start making them to sell, rather than making them because he enjoyed it and wanted others to enjoy it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moore\u2019s highly detailed artistic process not only allows him the space to engage deeply with his subject matter, however; it also creates highly detailed pieces of art that capture the nuance of the moment. He said his switch from paper to vellum was motivated by the precision of his process. He doesn\u2019t use blending tools, just different types of very sharp pencils, meaning there\u2019s no room for a misplaced line. His pencils have to be extremely sharp, Moore explained, and he initially found that he kept tearing the paper. Vellum, he said, is a stronger alternative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While his creative process is highly personal, Moore said that his work has also proven meaningful to other veterans\u2014something he hopes will be the case for the upcoming Veterans Art Show with JCPRD as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere were a few people at the festival that really got emotional,\u201d he said of the 2015 Veteran Creative Arts Festival. \u201cIf it helps one, it\u2019s good, a success.\u201d
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bryan Moore said the first time he showed his psychotherapist his art, he was told to go to art therapy. Moore had served in the military\u2019s special operations for 23 years, with seven combat tours. He said that since then, he\u2019s experienced PTSD, depression, and suicidality. Art, he said, helps him cope. He uses graphite on vellum\u2014a better, stronger alternative to paper that won\u2019t tear under his sharp, precise pencil\u2014to create highly detailed pieces, generally from photographs. Many of those pieces depict scenes from his combat experience. Moore\u2019s work won the 2015 Veteran Creative Arts Festival, a competition he entered…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22429,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[127,164,139],"tags":[159,162,163],"class_list":["post-22426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","category-veteran-art","category-visual-arts","tag-artist","tag-interview","tag-veteran"],"yoast_head":"\n