For the 4th of July!!!!! In the United States of America ~We The People By The People~ have the right to dissent. You may not agree with the sentiments of the below but our opinion at FineArtMagazineblog.blogspot.com, and Sunstormfineartmagazine.com
is that we have the right to dissent in keeping with the Fund Fathers Declaration!!!
Image credits top to bottom: Vietnam Veterans Against the War Chicago, 1974; Brittney Chantele, KEEP GOING! (still), 2024-2026; Amanda Raquel Dorval (Nuyorican-Dominican) [US Air Force veteran], Un bombazo de lo que fue, lo que es, y lo que podría ser, 2025.
THE THIRD VETERAN ART TRIENNIAL AND SUMMIT, RESISTING THE LONG WAR, ON VIEW AT FOUR CHICAGOLAND INSTITUTIONS: CHICAGO CULTURAL CENTER, ELMHURST ART MUSEUM, HYDE PARK CENTER, AND WALLS TURNED SIDEWAYS, AND ORGANIZED BY EMERGING VETERAN ART MOVEMENT
SEPTEMBER 2026 THROUGH MARCH 2027
(July 2, 2026 - CHICAGO) Sure to be a major Fall attraction, dates have been announced for RESISTING THE LONG WAR, the 2026 Veteran Art Triennial and Summit organized by the Chicago-based emerging Veteran Art Movement at four Chicagoland institutions: Chicago Cultural Center, Elmhurst Art Museum, Hyde Park Art Center, and Walls Turned Sideways. From September 2026 through March 2027, a constellation of five topical exhibitions and related public programming will explore the multiple, overlapping histories that shape our understanding of US warfare. Presenting works by veteran artists, the Triennial illuminates the pivotal role of art in cultivating alternative visions of peace, healing, and justice. Notably, in addition to visual art exhibitions, the Triennial incorporates a Veteran Art Summit (November 5-8, 2026) with programs at each hosting institution in the days leading up to Veterans Day, November 11, 2026. The Triennial, now in its third iteration, is curated by Aaron Hughes, Mohamed Mehdi, and Amber Zora of the emerging Veteran Art Movement. More information is online at resistingthelongwar.online and a full list of participating artists will be announced soon.
Building on the international success of past Triennials, the 2026 Veteran Art Triennial and Summit, RESISTING THE LONG WAR, highlights artists’ creative defiance to war and militarism. In 1967 Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his searing “Beyond Vietnam” speech naming militarism, materialism, and racism as the “giant triplets” strangling American democracy. He called for nothing less than a “radical revolution of values.” Days later he led a march to the United Nations where, for the first time, a group of Vietnam veterans marched under a banner declaring themselves “Vietnam Veterans Against the War.” This public act of defiance marked the birth of one of the most powerful anti-war organizations in US history, demonstrating that those trained for war could become some of its fiercest opponents.
Celebrating this lineage of refusal, RESISTING THE LONG WAR situates veteran art within an antiwar tradition and addresses Dr. King’s call for a radical revolution of values. Exhibition highlights include:
A REVOLUTION OF VALUES (Elmhurst Art Museum, September 12, 2026 to January 3, 2027) builds on the legacy of Vietnam Veterans Against the War through the work of cutting-edge contemporary veteran artists who are turning from militarism toward solidarity. The exhibition opens with archival materials from Vietnam Veterans Against the War and goes on to feature artists working in diverse mediums—from ceramics and sculpture to photography and video. Together, the artworks celebrate the range of ways veteran artists examine their military experiences and critique militarism.
SHIFTING HORIZONS (Hyde Park Art Center, October 24, 2026 to April 18, 2027) lifts up visions of freedom, decolonization, and collective care by artists whose practices are shaped by, and respond to, the many manifestations of war. Featured artists engage with familial histories of migration, land-based memories, and acts of reconnection, defiance, and love to insist that other horizons remain possible beyond our inherited borders.
WAR ABOLITION (Walls Turned Sideways, October to December 2026), organized by veteran artists currently in prison, focuses on visions of freedom and resistance that emerge from inside the carceral system. For decades, incarcerated journalists and anti-prison activists have framed the prisons as a manifestation of war. Within this framework, the exhibition presents expressions of war resistance emerging from inside the prison walls.
The organizers are thankful to their presenting partners: emerging Veteran Art Movement, City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, Hyde Park Art Center, Walls Turned Sideways, Elmhurst Art Museum, Terra Foundation For American Art, DEMIL Art Fund, IL Humanities, Creative Forces, Prison + Neighborhood Arts/Education Project, Warrior Writers, Frontline Arts, Chicago Department of Veterans Affairs, & Cook County Department of Veterans Affairs.
ABOUT THE ELMHURST ART MUSEUM
The Elmhurst Art Museum is located at 150 South Cottage Hill Avenue in Elmhurst (IL), 25 minutes from downtown Chicago by car or public transportation (Metra). On the museum’s campus is the McCormick House, a single-family home designed in 1952 by Mies van der Rohe, one of the great architects of the 20th Century. The McCormick House is one of only three residences designed and built by Mies in the United States – and one of only two open to the public.
The Museum is open Wednesday and Thursday from 12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m., Friday through Sunday, 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Regular admission prices are $18 for adults (ages 18+), $15 for seniors, $10 for students, and $5 for children. For more information, please call 630.834.0202 or visit elmhurstartmuseum.org.
ABOUT THE HYDE PARK ART CENTER
Hyde Park Art Center, at 5020 South Cornell Avenue on Chicago’s vibrant South Side, is a hub for contemporary arts in Chicago, serving as a gathering, production, and exhibition space for artists and the broader community to cultivate ideas, impact social change, and connect with new networks. Since its inception in 1939, Hyde Park Art Center has grown from a small collective of artists to establishing a strong legacy of risk-taking and experimentation, emerging as a unique Chicago arts institution with social impact. Today, the Art Center offers a diverse suite of programs for artists and art lovers of all backgrounds, ages, and stages in their careers including: contemporary art exhibitions in six galleries; an open-access community-based school with 2,000 annual enrollments; weekly arts education to 1,000 elementary school students in public schools; weekly and summer teen programs for 100 teen artists; professional-advancement programs for artists; a local and international artist residency; and public programs that connect residents with Chicago art and artists. The Art Center’s Oakman Clinton School + Studio is the nation’s first fully contribute-what-you-can visual art school for all ages. The Art Center functions as an amplifier for creative voices of today and tomorrow, providing the space to cultivate new work and connections. For more information, visit www.hydeparkart.org.
ABOUT WALLS TURNED SIDEWAYS
Walls Turned Sideways is an art gallery, studio, and community space dedicated to artists and communities impacted by incarceration. Our mission is to build bridges that connect people in prison, their families, artists, and other community members using art, exhibitions, and political education with a focus on collective liberation, healing and abolition. For more information visit wallsturnedsideways.org
ABOUT THE EMERGING VETERAN ART MOVEMENT
The emerging Veteran Art Movement (eVAM) is a decentralized network of veterans and service members committed to making art and using creative practices to transform themselves and a society grappling with endless war, militarism and dehumanization. Resisting the Long War is the third iteration of the eVAM’s Veteran Art Triennial and Summit. The first Triennial, War and Survival, in 2019 and the second, Surviving the Long Wars, in 2023 received national and international acclaim for situating veteran art within a critically engaged contemporary art discourse. For more information on the Triennial, visit www.veteran-art-movement.net.
Image credits L-R: Vietnam Veterans Against the War Chicago, 1974; Brittney Chantele, KEEP GOING! (still), 2024-2026; Amanda Raquel Dorval (Nuyorican-Dominican) [US Air Force veteran], Un bombazo de lo que fue, lo que es, y lo que podría ser, 2025.#veteransartsummit#fineartmagazineblog.blogspot.com #sunstormfineartmagazine.com#artfunforever#artfunall#artfuncelebration#happyjulyforth
