Iraq war vet hosts exhibit of painted uniforms

DEAN KAHN - THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

E-Mail

Print Reprint

Text Size:

tool goes here

Tormented by his year of military service in Iraq, Rick Lawson has found a degree of solace encouraging people to express their thoughts about war by painting on the back of soldiers' uniforms.

Through his effort - "The War Experience Project: A Uniform Exhibit" - numerous painted uniforms will be on display Dec. 5 at the Whatcom Peace & Justice Center.

The center has hosted two workshops where people availed themselves of art supplies and uniforms stretched taut with quilting hoops.

| PHILIP A. DWYER | THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

IF YOU GO
What: "The War Experience Project: A Uniform Exhibit," featuring war-related paintings on the back of soldiers' uniforms by local artists.
Where: Whatcom Peace & Justice Center, 100 E. Maple St.
When: 7 to 10 p. m. Dec. 5, during the Downtown Art Walk.
More: To donate uniforms, or to pick one up to paint, call 734-0217.

"I want to keep creating workshops in different cities," said Lawson, a 26-year-old sophomore at Fairhaven College. "I see it as a traveling exhibit that will continue to grow."

Lawson's contribution to the exhibit is his painting of a Humvee blasted by a roadside bomb.

"I was really angry and was really using my fingers to get into the uniform and paint the blast," he said.

Lawson is tall and lean, with long blond hair and a friendly face. He wasn't always so relaxed-looking.

A native of Lake Stevens, he joined the Army National Guard in March 2002, six months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"I was feeling very patriotic," he said.

He thought National Guard service would fit his plans to enter the medical field. He also thought he would stay in the states.

But his unit, the 181st Support Battalion with the 81st Brigade, went to Iraq in March 2004, Lawson said. He was stationed at Balad Airbase, a large base in northern Iraq.

"We got mortar attacks a lot," Lawson said. "There was a lot of fighting."

And a lot of dying. As a medical lab technician, Lawson saw scores of wounded and dying soldiers and civilians up-close.

"That really took a toll on me personally," Lawson said.

He also said he upset some colleagues by speaking out about what he considered inappropriate behavior by other soldiers.

"In the unit that I was in, that quality was not respected," Lawson said.

After his year in Iraq, he didn't want to go back. Lawson said he was told he wouldn't have to return, but it took more than a year of effort, with help from his family and the office of U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, to obtain his honorable discharge and service benefits, he said.

Lawson had a hard time back in civilian life. He lingered in California, drinking and abusing drugs, he said, before being persuaded to join his mother in Renton. He began straightening out his life, and was able to attend community college with financial support from a friend's father.

He's now studying, public policy, law, and veterans issues, so he can help other soldiers deal with Veterans Affairs. And he's counting and relishing the long string of days he's been clean and sober.

The art exhibit will be displayed at Whatcom Peace & Justice Center because the center wants to reach out to veterans and because Lawson's close friend, Valery Tolle, is an intern at the center.

Lawson hopes people with a variety of views about war will express themselves artistically.

"I don't see this as an anti-war thing, I don't see it as a pro-war thing, I see it as something to help further dialogue in the population as to what war means to them," he said. "I think it will have a great chance of becoming a national project."