First exhibit comes to Veterans Memorial Building

CEDAR RAPIDS - Julius Cavira's mission in Iraq is over, but the U.S. Army veteran has a new mission now.

'When I was deployed and digging trenches or stacking sandbags, I thought, I'm doing this to be an artist,” he said. 'My mission is to be an artist.”

He's starting to find success in that mission. A Chicago-native who now lives in Cedar Rapids, he enrolled in the army after college so he could pay off student loans.

Now, 28 of his figurative oil paintings and three works on paper are on display at the Veterans Memorial Building, 50 Second Avenue Bridge. The display, in a hallway in the building's basement level, will remain up through Nov. 30.

Veterans Memorial Commission assistant director Teri Van Dorston hopes it will be the first of many such exhibits of veterans' art.

'We definitely want to do more hallway shows,” she said. 'We already have another artist in mind for after Julius's show.”

During a major renovation of the building after the 2008 flood, the space where the art is hanging was specifically designed to serve as a gallery space. Van Dorston said giving veterans a dedicated space to show their work fits in perfectly with the Veterans Memorial Commission's goals. The Commission manages the building, which reopened to the public in April.

In addition to the show, Cavira is working on a large, two-panel mural, which he will donate to the Veterans Memorial Museum, which is housed in the building. The museum will then loan it to the Iowa Veterans Welcome Center, another entity housed in the building, where it will hang in Welcome Center President Roger Wiest's office.

The work, which will illustrate active military service personnel while at ease, will be the first piece of art by a living veteran to be added to the museum's collection, Van Dorston said.

'A lot of times we get things from veteran's families after the fact, after they've passed away,” she said. 'How wonderful to be able to talk to Julius about his experiences and understand where he came from and to be able to preserve his talents this way.”

Cavira, who served in Iraq in 2004-2005 and again in 2007-2008, said his experiences as a veteran strongly inform his art. He focuses on the themes of love and war.

'I like to depict soldiers or the mythology I grew up with, the idea of being a hero and being part of something much bigger,” he said. 'All in the midst of other things, like falling in love.”

A graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, he is now using a scholarship to further his art studies at Kirkwood Community College. He said painting offers a form of therapy after being diagnosed with post traumatic stress syndrome.

'It's very therapeutic for me to complete my mission as an artist,” he said.

If you go

' What: Solo artist exhibition by Julius Cavira

' Where: Veterans Memorial Building, 50 Second Avenue Bridge

' When: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday to Friday or by special appointment, through Nov. 30

' Cost: Free