Marine Corps combat artists to showcase talent during prestigious exhibit visiting St. George

The National Museum’s Marine Corps Combat Art Gallery opened July 2017. The gallery features changing exhibitions of the Museum’s combat art collection or related collections on loan from others. The Marine Corps Combat Art Program traces its origins to 1942. Its mission: Keep Americans informed about what “their Marines” are doing at home and overseas. Managed today by the National Museum of the Marine Corps, the collection has grown to include more than 9,000 works of art created by 350 artists. Photo courtesy of the National Museum of the Marine Corps.

ST. GEORGE — Unless you put on the uniform, it’s hard to imagine the toll combat can have on the men and women who serve this country.

While it’s true that a picture is worth a thousand words, it is for this reason, many veterans turn to art to express the horror of war and the joy of peace.

As a way to showcase the hidden talent of combat artists, the St. George Art Museum, located at 47 E. 200 N., will host a powerful art exhibit, “Honor, Courage, Commitment: Marine Corps Art, 1975-2018,” which begins Saturday and continues through April 30.

The show includes 36 works by 15 combat artists, portraying Marine Corps service from the mid-1970s through the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Marine Corps Combat Art Program engages veterans as well as their civilian counterparts who served during overseas deployment to document the ongoing mission of the Corps. The guidance is simple: if you served then chronicle what you experienced through art.

Stephanie Wheeler, St. George Museum curator, is pleased to be one of a very select few museums chosen to host the exhibition.

Combat Artist Marine Capt. C. J. Baumann, location and date unspecified | Photo courtesy National Museum of the Marine Corps, St. George News

“We are very pleased to be one of eight American cities to host this traveling exhibit,” Wheeler said. “I really can’t wait for the public to see what these Marines have done through their art … it’s incredible.”

In a time when America is divided, Wheeler added, it’s encouraging to see a glimmer of something positive.

“This is an awesome way to pay tribute to people that have served in the military and for those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice with their lives,” Wheeler said. “This is a beautiful way to show our appreciation.”

The exhibit is divided into three themes: “Every Clime and Place,” which centers on the nation’s combat readiness and its ability to respond rapidly to any location across the globe; “No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy,” which portrays the Marines’ flexibility to bring the fight to the enemy while also providing aid to anyone in need;  and the final theme, “The Price,” tells the story of sacrifice.

Each vignette of life includes compelling portraits, diverse landscapes, snapshots of training and combat and sensitive images of loss.

U.S. Marine Staff Sgt. Elize McKelvey Photo courtesy National Museum of the Marine Corps.

No Marine better typifies what the combat art program represents than Staff Sgt. Elize McKelvey who served as an active duty Marine from May 2012 to October 2020.

During her time in uniform, McKelvey deployed with the 15th Marine Expeditionary unit to Hawaii, but within one week she witnessed an Osprey Crash that killed two Marines.

McKelvey used this event and her talent for art to connect with the families and Marines from that event.

In 2016, McKelvey officially became a part of the Marine Corps Combat Art Program as an enlisted representative.

McKelvey has covered multiple missions in the Middle East and training exercises in the United States.

Recently as a civilian, McKelvey sketched Afghanistan refugees while embedded with Marines overseas. Although no longer in uniform, McKelvey’s passion for sharing stories through art remains a consistent motivation to represent the job of the United State’s veterans community.

“Marine Corps art is up close and personal. It is about the individual Marine — in combat, during training, or while delivering assistance during times of great need,” said Lin Ezell, former National Museum of the Marine Corps director and curator of the traveling exhibit. “This art helps us better appreciate those who have worn the uniform and those who continue to serve today.”

The exhibit is on loan from the National Museum of the Marine Corps and is sponsored by the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation.

According to the exhibition’s sponsors, the works on canvas and sculptures provide a window into the artists’ experiences, many of who lived through combat. The result is a rich commentary on the men and women of the Marine Corps who defend the Constitution of the United States.

The Marine Corps Combat Art Program traces its origins to 1942.

Its mission is to keep Americans informed about what “their Marines” are doing at home and overseas. Managed today by the National Museum of the Marine Corps, the collection has grown to include more than 9,000 works of art created by more than 300 artists.

Mixed media illustration created utilizing pen and watercolor techniques from a scene that the artist witnessed during a deployment with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit that took place on Bellows Air Force Station aboard Marine Corps Base Hawaii, May 17, 2014. Marines with the 15th MEU were involved in a “hard landing” resulting in the death of two Marines and many more injuries. (U.S. Marine Corps illustration by Elize McKelvey)

Honor, courage and commitment are the basic principles embraced by all Marines. Along with a dose of gritty realism, the principles are reflected in the combat art collection.

Talented active-duty Marines, reservists and civilian artists document life in the Corps whether it’s on the battlefront, training exercises, during humanitarian missions or on the home front, the collection’s strength rests on the authentic and unvarnished focus these works have on the human condition under the most trying of circumstances.

The exhibition will continue to travel through 2023.

Additional stops after the St. George Art Museum include the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force near Dayton, Ohio, Turtle Bay Exploration Park in Redding, California, and the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum in College Station, Texas.

The St. George Museum is open Tuesday – Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. There is no charge; however, donations are appreciated.

For more information on this exhibit call the St. George Museum at 435-627-4525.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

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