By Patrick McGroarty
News Editor

A modest crowd shuffled through the Upper Hall of All Saints Church last Thursday evening admiring an island of self-portraits and character studies, the culminating exhibition for young artists who participated in the ninth annual DotArt summer program. This year's theme, "Face to Face: Veterans' Portraits," connected young people to the servicemen and women in their midst, and a handful attended Thursday night's exhibition and auction. Each veteran was given a flower to carry as they strolled through the hall, inviting the curious observer to try to match their faces with those captured on the painted door panels and canvases of the young artists.

"I tried especially hard to capture his eyes," said 16 year-old Elizabeth Anguiste of Mattapan, who had painted a life size painting of 24 year-old Iraq War veteran Sean Lunde on a door panel. "You can see a lot of emotion from his eyes, and I wanted that in my painting," said Anguiste.

This was her third summer participating in the seven-week summer program, which drew over 20 youths from across the city and is supported through a partnership with the Boston Youth Fund, Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD), and the Private Industry Council. The veteran models were recruited by Professor Kevin Bowen, director of the William Joiner Center for the Study of War and Social Consequences at UMass-Boston. Bowen also attended an early session of the summer program to facilitate a discussion with the youths about the experience of living as a veteran in America.

"I asked students about veterans they knew in their own lives, and about their own experiences with violence. We discussed how to talk about that, how to make that feel comfortable. They had a lot of questions- more than I could answer; which is good."

Bowen, himself a veteran, was drafted in 1968 and served in the 1st Air Cavalry Division in Vietnam. He has been director of the Joiner Center since 1984.

"It can be difficult to understand how violence or a wartime experience affects a veteran, There's this phenomena of vets becoming invisible," said Bowen. "They come back and drift into the general population stream. This exhibit is a way to make them physically visible, to capture the spirit of change that war brings about in a person."

Each young student was directed to paint a self-portrait as well as a study of a veteran. The artists sketched each of the veterans who came to speak with them, then teachers assigned artist to paint the veteran who they had best "captured" in their preliminary drawings.

"It was interesting to see their ideas on war, and about violence in the world now," said Anguiste. "I only got to see Sean twice. He's quiet, and strong in his own way. He's probably been through a lot."

Standing with Anguiste next to his life size likeness, Lunde had just the hint of a smile on his face.

"It's pretty good," he said. "I mean, it's me."

Lunde served with the Army in Iraq for one year and now volunteers at the Joiner Center. He agreed to speak to the young artists' at Bowen's urging.

"Some of them were a little young to understand, but they were very respectful," he said.

Natalie Comdon, a 16 year-old from Neponset, said that the best part of her experience had been learning to paint the human form.

"I learned a lot about being a better painter, a better artist," she said. After completing a self-portrait, Comdon was assigned to paint Martha Jackson, an Army veteran who served for two years during peacetime.

"It was the first time I've painted a person and it was really hard," said Comdon. "Martha said she served during peacetime, and that she was really into sports. I wanted to show how strong she was in my painting."

Standing several feet from the painting, Jackson said she was pleased with the experience.

"I think they really get the idea, and I think it's important to help kids out," she said. "My son's an artist, and I know how important it is to continue to do it. It takes a lot of skill and patience.

As the silent auction drew to a close, there was an atmosphere of palpable anticipation among the teenagers; each teenager would pocket 50 percent from the sale of their artwork. When the bids were tallied, the auction had brought in $3,887.00

Bowen said he was hoping to acquire a number of the veteran portraits for the center's archives, and walked away with 10 door panels, two smaller paintings, and a drawing.

"When I look at these paintings, look at the eyes, I can see that the kids connected with these vets," said Bowen. "The space between someone who's been to war and someone young is very great, but kids have less inhibitions, which enables their imagination to make great leaps in understanding. And it gives veterans a safe space to talk about their experience."