Meet Elizabeth Washburn of Combat Arts San Diego and Washburn Fine Art in East Village

Today we’d like to introduce you to Elizabeth Washburn.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Elizabeth. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Washburn Fine Art is my life’s professional arts practice that has taken me on many journeys from gallery and museum exhibitions, public and private painting commissions, to community murals working with at risk teenagers and combat veterans from the Iraq and Afghan wars. Art is a common language that I use for myself to navigate the world around me, as well as to help others.

In 2007, after reading one too many accounts of US Marine casualties in Iraq, I began volunteering at the Balboa Naval Hospital where I offered art classes to wounded warriors. In 2010, I was asked to bring my classes to a new Navy-sponsored Post-traumatic Stress Disorder inpatient clinic on the Point Loma Submarine Base, which is where the veteran nonprofit I founded, Combat Arts San Diego, was born. The arts programming Combat Arts provides helps combat veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to cope with their symptoms resulting from PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injuries.

From 2010 until now, Combat Arts San Diego continues to utilize art viewing and art making to assist injured combat veterans to heal and connect. Within in the last few years, we have added employment opportunities for veterans and active duty service members to help supplement their military incomes with grants and art commissions we are awarded. In our program, veterans are trained and paid to make art.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I think “Art” and “Challenge” are inherently connected. Although most people have a great affinity for art, it is often lowest on the list for funding, acquisition, and priority. I truly feel that art is an under-utilized tool that has proven itself to be fundamental in building a more healthy society, but is always the first one in line at the chopping block.

Please tell us about Combat Arts San Diego and Washburn Fine Art.
Combat Arts San Diego Inc. and Washburn Fine Art are parallel organizations that share the core foundation of utilizing art as a therapeutic tool.

A 501(c)(3) nonprofit veteran art organization that not only provides weekly art classes to active duty service members in treatment for PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injuries, but also gives mentoring and job opportunities to service members and veterans who are interested in the arts as either a career path or a coping mechanism to manage mental and physical trauma.

What is different about Combat Arts is that we not only create art but create employment opportunities for veterans to work on the public art commissions we secure throughout the city. Mostly our art projects are murals, where we utilize a Journeyman and Apprentice system whereby the veterans are mentored on how to present, design, fabricate, facilitate and paint large scale art projects. The Journeyman are paid positions and the Apprentices work with the Journeyman to gain the needed skills to elevate up to the Journeyman position.

Washburn Fine Art is my personal and professional art practice where I exhibit in art galleries and museums, as well as do painting and mural commissions for public and private clients. Combat Arts was built from within Washburn Fine Art. I employ veterans who have gone through the Journeyman/Apprentice system with Combat Arts to work on my personal and professional projects.

Combat Arts has had a big influence on the subject matter I make art about in Washburn Fine Art. My graduate school thesis work was focused on the mental health impact that multiple tours of duty have on our service members, and currently, I have created a series of kinetic mixed-medial lightbox paintings that are designed to reduce stress and anxiety through color transitions.

What is different about Washburn Fine Art is the involvement with active duty service members and veterans to make art that heals.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
If I had it to do over, I would have tried to less, honestly. I think when I was young and idealistic, I thought trying to do as much as possible was the best avenue, kind of like a law of averages scenario. However, now that I am older, I realize that less really is more and quality versus quantity is the best approach for me.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ewashburn.com and www.combatartssd.org
• Email: elizabeth@combatartssd.org
• Instagram: #washburnfineart
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/combat.arts.7

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