By Allan Appel
Ukrainian soldiers' art fundraiser
St. Michael's Church Hall
569 George St.
Oct. 25-6, 2025
“I am 32 years old. My wolf in the forest is an image of strength and solitude. In battle I feel like a wolf fighting for my pack — for my brothers and for Ukraine.”
“I spent a long time in the hospital after being wounded. At night I watch the stars through the window. Painting the sky feels like breathing freedom again.”
“I am 40 years old, a military medic. The red tones represent both blood and life that I witnessed every day. Through painting I restore my inner balance.”
These are not ordinary artists’ “statements,” but those of soldiers serving in the 30th Marine Brigade and the 80th Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian armed forces.
Their moving statements and those of scores of other soldier-artists, along with 140 of their compositions, are on display and for sale as a fundraiser for Ukraine’s wounded soldiers this weekend, Oct. 25 and 26, at St. Michael’s Church Hall at 569 George St.
All the proceeds go to the art therapy program at the Zhytomyr Military Hospital, 50 miles due west of Kyiv, where soldiers evacuated from the front lines with severe physical injuries and psychological trauma, including PTSD and traumatic brain injury, are being treated, including through this innovative art therapy program.
“They are all active duty [soldiers],” said Myron Melnyk, a lead organizer of the fundraising exhibition, along with Carl Harvey. It’s one of several programs of the New Haven Connecticut Ukrainian American Humanitarian Aid Fund through which local Ukrainians, headquartered at St. Michael’s Church, have, since the war with Russia began in 2023, sent 14 shipments, or $9 million dollars’ worth, of medical and surgical supplies to hospitals throughout Ukraine.
“Some [of the soldiers who have done these paintings] will be discharged and others patched up and sent back to the war,” Melnyk said.
Whatever their futures, these soldiers are beneficiaries from an approach to care whose mysterious yet palliative power is captured, in part, I think, by the Catholic philosopher Thomas Merton, who wrote, “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.”
The hope is to raise $30,000 through sale of the works that range from $150 to about $1,000, all of which will go directly to the volunteer effort at Zhytomyr Military Hospital that supports the art therapy program.
While most of the works in the show are obviously by amateur artists, some also have been contributed by teachers and students at a nearby art school who also serve as mentors to the soldier-student artists, said Melnyk.
“Perhaps unsurprisingly most of the themes are non-militaristic,” said Melnyk about the art.
There is very little of what you imagine would be “realistic” for the soldier, that is, scenes of war, rubble, carnage, death and destruction. Which, of course, is precisely one of the points of art therapy, as the soldiers’ captioning of their work attests.
In addition to many animals, bowls of fruit, elaborate configurations of flowers, said the curator, Paddy Spiegehalter, there are a number of compositions with angels.
She called particular attention to a scene of three soldiers walking single file across a brown landscape to a bright disc of sun. You can’t quite be sure if the sun is rising or setting.
“This is a perfect example,” she said. “Soldiers in the field, and with hope that where they’re going is better than where they’ve come from.”
The show is very much a family art event, added Melnyk. There will be Ukrainian food, a nip of vodka if you wish just after you enter, and each hour the art viewing will be punctuated with brief intervals of Ukrainian dance, song, and other entertainment on the stage of St. Michael’s parish hall, which is the scene of the show.
Donations, even without purchase of art works, continue to be needed for upcoming shipments of medical equipment or to be earmarked for the art therapy program. For those who can’t make the exhibition’s single weekend on Oct. 25 and 26, or who want otherwise to donate or become involved, the contacts are the organizers: Myron Melnyk at (201) 264-9793 or Carl Harvey at (203) 848-4860.
