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About six months ago, she began working with War Paints, a Harrisonburg-based nonprofit that encourages veterans to create works of arts and then provides a platform to sell them. The organization has about 30 veterans and first responders producing and selling art, with all proceeds going to the artist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Feb. 27, Henderson joined four dozen others in attending a lecture given by War Paints founder Rusty Noesner at Blue Ridge Community College. The audience then visited the college\u2019s art gallery, where the showcase \u201cWar Paints: Honoring Veteran Creativity\u201d will be on display until April 6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Several of Henderson\u2019s paintings are on display in addition to dozens of metal sculptures and other veteran art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The university matched a $3,000 grant from the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts to put on the exhibit, as well as fund a six-week metalworking class last fall for eight or nine veterans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Noesner, 33, originally of Fairfax County, served in the Navy from 2008 to 2014. After suffering two brain injuries in combat, he was sent for treatment to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There he first discovered art therapy and a love for painting and photography, a passion he brought to the Harrisonburg area in 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Noesner, art is \u201ctremendously focusing,\u201d he said. Veterans can track their own progress as they improve their artwork.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s good for the veteran in that they can put their work up, but they don\u2019t have to talk about it,\u201d he said. \u201cNo one\u2019s forcing them to explain themselves through their art. It\u2019s just there to be observed and reflected upon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wiley Perry, BRCC\u2019s welding and machining program manager, taught the school\u2019s metal-working class for veterans. Perry had them create a portrait out of metal scraps, a branding iron and a metal hand or fist \u2014 all as a means to get them to express themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a former Navy welder, Perry said, he was able to connect with the veterans throughout his class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe welding lessons just opened the door for their creativity,\u201d he said, \u201cand they were able to kind of put away some of the fears of the unknown \u2014 and once they had some instruction, just start experimenting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n War Paints and BRCC are planning to offer more classes for veterans in the future, Perry said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Freshman Nathan Pettit, 19, attended the lecture and stopped by the gallery. His father served in the Army for 22 years, he said, and he wants to connect him with War Paints. His dad\u2019s generation believed in keeping their emotions to themselves, he said, and may benefit from taking up a craft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201d(Noesner\u2019s) extensive background and his field craft and just his experience overall in being able to provide the help that some other veterans might need desperately,\u201d Pettit said, \u201cI guess is a very reassuring thought.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The gallery allows the veterans to show viewers that they have more to offer than just their profession, Noesner said. One of his goals through War Paints is to help them reconnect with their civilian selves, something many struggle with after returning from combat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think it\u2019s a window to understand that veterans themselves and first responders are multifaceted humans,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is more to them than the identity of service.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP_18060674617384.jpg.jpg\")