VA Hospital Patients Show Artistic Skills

Vietnam veteran Jack Cope has a reverence for holy icons, but he also has a wry sense of humor. In his award-winning leather work featuring Jesus as the Good Shepherd, one of the sheep is wearing a Sony Walkman.

Cope, a 38-year-old East San Diego resident, is one of six San Diego veterans to take first place in the National Veterans Creative Arts competition. The annual contest pits veterans from around the country in competitions in voice, instrumental music, original music composition, dance, drama and art, said Gayle Grey, spokesman for the San Diego Veterans Administration Medical Center. The winners are all patients or outpatients of the 172 V.A. medical centers around the United States.

A free festival, showcasing the talents of the winners, will be held today at the San Diego Civic Theatre, at 3rd Avenue and B Street.

Five art winners are among 26 national artists whose work will be on display at the theater beginning at 6:30 p.m., an hour before the performance begins at 7:30 p.m.

The two-hour show will feature a barbershop quartet from Pittsburg, Pa.; a dance group from Temple, Tex.; and singers, actors, and musicians from as far away as Maine, Massachusetts, Indiana and Florida, said Linda Colletti, a special education art instructor. Colletti, a San Diego Community college employee teaches art to veterans through the San Diego medical center.

“Jack had never done any tooled leather work till he came to my class,” Colletti said. But he took first place in the national art competition for his Good Shepherd picture and a set of elaborately tooled moccasins. Cope also took first place in the drama competition for a dramatic performance of an original piece he had written.

Other San Diego winners are singer, pianist, composer Charles Chancer, a World War II veteran. Lloyd Silva, also a World War II vet, took first place for his macrame work for a glass Japanese fishing ball.

Moki Martin, a former Navy Seal and Vietnam era veteran, received first place for his watercolor painting of a fishing boat with Lubach’s Restaurant in the background.

Juanita Martin, a World War II veteran, placed first for a woven wall hanging and Al Holle, also a veteran of World II, won first for his woodwork. Holle, a previous winner in the competition, is also know for his scrimshaw work on pool cue balls, Colletti said.

The winning art pieces were selected from more than 300 pieces entered in the final competition last month in San Diego, Colletti said. Contestants had to win in competitions at their medical center and in their region to reach the nationals.

A video of Chancer’s performance was sent to the national music finals held in Knoxville, Iowa. The dance finals were held in Brockton, Mass., while the drama competitions was held in Coatesville, Pa.

This year will mark the first time the festival will be held on the West Coast, Colletti said. The showcase for disabled veterans was begun in 1981. It is co-sponsored this year by Help Hospitalized Veterans, a San Diego charity that distributes arts-and-crafts packages to hospitalized veterans.

Tickets to the event are free and are available through the Recreation Service at the V.A. Medical Center, 3350 La Jolla Village Drive, and veterans service organizations. For information, call 552-8585, Ext. 7410 or 7682.