FSCJ Art Galleries: Soft Spots

 As part of the 2011-12 annual FSCJ Author Series Learning Community, students created fine art prints, photographs animations, audio recordings and texts in response to the memoir Soft Spots by Clint Van Winkle.  The text conveys the author’s experiences as one of the first troops to invade Iraq in 2003. After returning home, the trauma he experiences overseas leaves him diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). His memoir provides a poignant account of the human connections often overlooked when discussing large issues such as war and trauma.  

Over 2,000 Florida State College at Jacksonville students read the memoir in disciplines such as History, Psychology, English, Speech, Art, Dental Hygiene, Education, and more. The learning community provided an opportunity for students to engage in interdisciplinary conversations to gain a better understanding of what combat veterans experience both in combat as well as when they return to civilian life after living through trials most of us can only imagine. The learning community strives to provide a meaningful examination of the complex human issues embedded in these situations and engage as active agents to acknowledge the links between all of us in the human family.  

Soft Spots Projects 

Some of the student projects were exhibited in the South Gallery during the author’s visit and are documented below.  They include portraits of FSCJ veterans, photographic interpretations of the memoir, essays and a collaborative print project. 

These 24 portraits represented a part of the Colleges larger student military personnel.  Participants responded to a questionnaire about their experiences and this text was displayed with the images. 

Portraits of Our Veterans   Installation  Professor Naomi Shersty and photography classes
Portraits of Our Veterans (detail)  Installation  Professor Naomi Shersty and photography classes

Photography Response Project 
Professor Naomi Shersty and photography classes 

For this project, students interpreted passages of the text through creative photography. The students were advised to recreate the emotional weight present throughout the book rather than a literal interpretation. Some images are hazy and fragmented like a foggy memory, while others are more overt like a painful experience. Either way, the photographs strive to communicate an understanding of Sergeant Van Winkle’s pride and personal trauma.  
 

Lacey Messinger  Title: Long Distance Death  Photograph  On loan from the collection of the artist
Lacey Messinger  Photograph  On loan from the collection of the artist
Rebecca Cameron  Title: In Their Boots (series)  Photograph  On loan from the collection of the artist
Micaela Gugliotta  Passage: Most of all, I needed to believe in something.  Photograph  On loan from the collection of the artist
Summer Tumlinson  Photograph  On loan from the collection of the artist
Eneida Dossett  Title: Who’d Be Next?  Photograph  On loan from the collection of the artist

Collaborative Block Print 
Professor Patrick Miko and printmaking classes 
Professor Beth Tuckwiller and psychology classes 

Students in printmaking and psychology classes collaborated on this large-scale block print project in honor of the Wounded Warriors Project. Psychology classes selected passages from the memoir that were visually and emotionally powerful and gave them to printmaking students to translate into imagery.  A sheet of fiberboard was carved into “puzzle” pieces and divided between the students who then transferred their images onto the wood blocks. The blocks were then carved, inked, reassembled and printed onto fabric with a full-size steamroller. Prints were gifted to The Wounded Warrior project and other participants. The final quilt contains twenty-four stars on the backside (representing each pair of students that chose and translated passages was  presented to Clint Van Winkle in honor of Soft Spots. 

Leslie Boroczk  Untitled  Relief print  A gift from the artist  Selected by Katrina Cabral
Christopher Broussard  What Lies Beneath No Man’s Land  Relief print  A gift from the artist  Selected by Renee Anderson
Chris Chovanec  Bombs Over Baghdad  Relief print  A gift from the artist    Selected by Kacie Devlin
Denise Clodfelter  Letters from Home  Relief print  A gift from the artist     Selected by Adrianne Rust
Michael Cottrell  Untitled  Relief print  A gift from the artist   Selected by Kelsey Parrish
Vin Dolan  P.S.D.S.  Relief print  A gift from the artist  Selected by Stephan Ryan O’Donoghue
Kelsey Eldridge  Highlighter  Relief print  A gift from the artist  Selected by Adrianne Rust
Brittany Gorelick  Untitled  Relief print  A gift from the artist  Selected by Ashley Gadd
Leo Hearn  Superman  Relief print  A gift from the artist  Selected by Adrianne Rust
Kyle Holbrook  No Respect  Relief print  A gift from the artist  Selected by Kyle Holbrook
Casey Lamberth  Untitled  Relief print  A gift from the artist  Selected by Tanzila Zaman
LeeAnn McClain  American  Relief print  A gift from the artist  Selected by Kelsey Parrish
Emily Novak  She Wants  Relief print  A gift from the artist  Selected by Jessica Toukmehji
Jenn Page  Constriction  Relief print  A gift from the artist  Selected by Stephan Ryan O’Donoghue
Cody Rose  Untitled  Relief print  A gift from the artist  Selected by Anna Lahaise
Sarah Spivey  Untitled  Relief print  A gift from the artist  Selected by Adrianne Rust
Tommy Toomey  Forever Young  Relief print  A gift from the artist  Selected by Ashley Gadd
Anna Trcalek  War  Relief print  A gift from the artist   Selected by Anna Lahaise
Adam Williams  Untitled  Relief print  A gift from the artist  selected by Aubree Leone