Expeditionary center's Air Force art collection inspires Airmen

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Scott T. Sturkol
  • U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center Public Affairs
FORT DIX, N.J. (AFPN) --  When the Air Force Expeditionary Center was first established in 1994 as the Air Mobility Warfare Center, the walls of the building were bare.

Gen. William J. Begert, then commander, and his wife, Judy, made a special trip to the Air Force Art Program's warehouse to find items to display within the center, said Keith Ferris, an artist from Morris Plains, N.J. 

"They came into the new Air Mobility Warfare Center and saw the bare walls," said Mr. Ferris, a long-time donator to the Air Force Art Program and recent visitor to the center. "They took the initiative to go and find appropriate Air Force art to hang on the walls throughout the center, and I think they made some good choices." 

An oil painting of General Begert also hangs on the walls of the center.

Don Wiggins, the command curator for the Air Mobility Command's distribution of Air Force art, said the center holds AMC's "second largest" collection of Air Force art with 83 pieces. 

"Art, like what's found in the center, provides a form of inspiration for those who view it," Mr. Wiggins said. "In the center's 13 years of existence, thousands of students have viewed the art throughout the buildings corridors and walls."

Currently the Air Force Art Program has approximately 9,500 works and they receive about 100 to 125 new pieces per year, said Russell Kirk, the Air Force Art Program director at the secretary of the Air Force Administrative Assistant's Office in the Pentagon.

"The program currently has approximately 250 active artists," Mr. Kirk said. "However, over the years, it represents hundreds."

Dozens of those artists are represented in the center's collection and their paintings span numerous operations -- from the Korean War to Operation Restore Hope. 

Sending artists to see operations first hand and to learn more of what it's like to be there is where the best art comes from, Mr. Kirk said.

"While we document the Air Force through other types of media such as still imagery and live media feeds, an artist can capture more than just the moment," he said.

Since the Air Force Art Program began in 1950, the center has followed suit with paintings from the very beginning of the program. Among the oldest in the center's display collection is a 1950 painting by Samuel Smith entitled, "Future Tucson Air Strip," and a 1952 painting by Harold Sims called, "First Day at Kimpo."

More recent paintings in the collection include 1993 paintings by Charles Rowe called, "Operation Restore Hope," and by Eugene Lebbin entitled, "The 126th in Moron, Spain."

Besides officially listed art from the Air Force Art Program, the center also has art donated directly to or commissioned by the center. They include a mural of former Chief Master Sgt. Grace Peterson, painted by former center staffmember Staff Sgt. Rick Dunaway. 

There are also portraits of all past center commanders, superintendents and command chiefs. 

"They say a picture is worth a thousand words," Mr. Wiggins said. "With the paintings artists create, they can inspire Airmen for years to come."

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