Breaking Rag: A Veteran, Family & Community Art Project, 2016-2018 (Archival Site)
Trish Brownlee launched the Breaking Rag art project in 2016. This veteran, family & community art project created opportunities for art-making workshops and interactions between military, veterans and their communities. Breaking Rag operated in Fayetteville, NC until September of 2018, when Trish's art practice/studio was lost in Hurricane Florence. This site remains an archive of the Breaking Rag project.
Trish Brownlee launched the Breaking Rag art project in 2016. This veteran, family & community art project created opportunities for art-making workshops and interactions between military, veterans and their communities. Breaking Rag operated in Fayetteville, NC until September of 2018, when Trish's art practice/studio was lost in Hurricane Florence. This site remains an archive of the Breaking Rag project.
About Breaking Rag
Everyone has a story. We are all a part of a community, even when we feel isolated and disconnected.
Our goals are to create community connections and create safe spaces through art. Breaking Rag was a veteran, family, and community art project, facilitated by veteran/artist Trish Brownlee, that served Fort Bragg and surrounding counties from 2016-2018. "Breaking Rag" is a term in papermaking, referring to the physical process of breaking fibers into pulp, from which the paper is made. Breaking Rag offered public demos and workshops to the military, veterans, their families, and to the community, specializing in creating paper and artwork from worn military uniforms, re-purposed materials, and raw plant fiber. Using a mobile papermaking studio, we were capable of creating art-making spaces almost anywhere! This was possible thanks to the Oracle Portable Hollander Beater made by Lee McDonald. The goal of these workshops served to create safe spaces for community art-making and open conversation. Through art, we are able to break through assumptions and stereotypes and find real connection. Breaking Rag began in 2016 by offering public demos and workshops to veterans, their families, and the community. Between 2016-2018, Breaking Rag has worked with The Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County, Cape Fear Regional Theatre, Cape Fear Botanical Garden, Weymouth Woods, and more, and expanded the craft to include raw plant fiber papermaking. Why This Works
The goal of the project was to create safe spaces for community art-making and open conversation. Come as you are and create! We invited veterans, families and civilians to create alongside one another in the Breaking Rag Art Project. Through art, we are able to break through assumptions and stereotypes and find real connection, bridging the gap between the military and veteran communities. Through art, we are able to break through assumptions and stereotypes and find real connection.In order for us to truly have an understanding of our country's history & future, stories of our military must be heard. War lingers, follows and haunts the families and communities of those who fight them. Art is capable of reaching across divides and creating understanding, finding purpose and promoting healing. Collaborative art-making offers a space for understanding and honest connection between veterans and their communities. Art is an access point for exploring and sharing one's experiences. Through the transformational process of creating handmade paper from worn military uniforms, the workshops created a safe space for conversation and storytelling through artistic expression.
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InspirationVideo: More about the work of Combat Paper NJ (now Frontline Arts & Warrior Writers, Serving the Northeast/MD
Video Credit: Susan Wallner, PBS State of the Arts NJ Links to Inspiration and Elders:
Drew Cameron Combat Paper Project Warrior Writers Combat Paper NJ Aaron Hughes Jessie Albretch Malachi Muncy Guiesspie Pellicano Lovella Calica Eli Wright Kevin Basl Jeremy Stainthorp Berggren Jim Lommansson Melissa Walker, Art Therapist Sarah Sentilles Writing/Research by Edward Tick, PHD .....and all others I've met along the way. |
History
The story of the fiber, the blood, sweat and tears, the months of hardship and brutal violence are held within those old uniforms. The uniforms often become inhabitants of closets or boxes in the attic. Reshaping that association of subordination, of warfare and service, into something collective and beautiful is our inspiration. -Drew Cameron, 2007
Breaking Rag was inspired by and modeled after my experiences with Combat Paper Project, Frontline Arts, Warrior Writers, and other veterans, writers and artists who have inspired and supported me. I first experienced the Combat Paper workshops myself as a participant, creating art from my own military uniforms. Through the workshops, I began to process my own military service and then able to use my experience to help others. Many other veterans who go through these workshops have similar outcomes and are able to find purpose and healing. These workshops begin as an individual experience and become something bigger - they connect the military and civilian communities, breaking through stigma and assumptions to create understanding. I did not create this process, nor am I am the first - or hopefully last - to create new workshops modeled after the work of existing COMBAT PAPER artists. After learning the process of creating paper from military uniforms from my mentor, Drew Cameron of Combat Paper, I continued seeking out, meeting, and interviewing members of Warrior Writers, Frontline Arts, Melissa Walker (Art Therapist) and other affiliated veteran-artists. I used this experienced, along with research in PTSD, art therapy and trauma theory, to create my new body of artwork and write my MFA thesis: Deconstructing the Divide: Art as a Voice for Military Experience. I also attended an independent papermaking residency at the Penland School of Craft to increase my knowledge and skills of the process. After completing my MFA program and with the blessing of my mentors, I launched Breaking Rag in 2016 with a successful Kickstarter campaign. I next spent three summer mastering papermaking from recycled fibers and raw fibers and leading Breaking Rag workshops as Artist-in-Residence at Cape Fear Botanical Garden and in many other locations. Breaking Rag operated in Fayetteville, NC until September of 2018, when my art practice/studio was lost in Hurricane Florence. This site remains an archive of the Breaking Rag project. Thank you to all who supported this work along the way.
Breaking Rag: A Veteran, Family & Community Art Project, 2016-2018 (Archival Site)
This site remains an archive of the Breaking Rag project. Thank you to all who supported this work along the way.
This site remains an archive of the Breaking Rag project. Thank you to all who supported this work along the way.