DENVER (Tribune News Service) — The art gallery on Santa Fe Drive teemed with people on a recent night, part of the district’s signature First Friday art walk that takes over the funky strip south of downtown Denver.

Families, young professionals and retirees — some with drinks in hand — took in the myriad works gracing the gallery’s walls, chatting amiably with the artists about their process. The gallery featured moonlit nature photography; avant-garde, black-and-white portraits; and artificial-intelligence-infused pieces.

If visitors didn’t notice the 19th-century memorabilia hanging on the walls, they might confuse 841 Santa Fe Drive with just another art gallery.

But this isn’t your average art space — this is Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1, the international veteran organization’s first and oldest post in existence, with origins dating back to William McKinley’s presidency. Its motto: “First of many, one of a kind.”

“We want to change the story of the VFW,” said Brittany Bartges, the post’s commander. “We want to make it a healing place.”

Bartges and the post’s previous commander, Jim Stevens, say the old model for VFWs is broken. The younger generation of veterans doesn’t want to sit around all day in a smoky bar telling war stories. They want to channel their efforts into more productive activities, while retaining the community feel and camaraderie that has drawn vets to the organization since its founding in 1899.

This means yoga, meditation and music jam sessions during the week. The art gallery, meanwhile, reserves 80% of its space for veteran artists. In a population where 7% struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder, VFW Post 1 can be a life-saving experience.

“Every year families and spouses call us to say, ‘Thank you,’” Stevens said. “‘Until they got involved with the VFW, they were sitting in the basement with a .45 caliber in their hand.’”

Origins of the VFW

In the basement of the Colorado State Capitol, on a nondescript post near the snack bar, hangs a plaque commemorating the origins of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

“In this building — December 1, 1899 — was held the first meeting of the Army of the Philippines from which emanated, August 13, 1913, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States.”

A group of Colorado soldiers founded the Army of the Philippines after returning from fighting there during the Spanish-American War. The returning veterans struggled to reintegrate back home and yearned for the connection with their comrades who served alongside them.

They named their post “ John S. Stewart Camp No. 1″ after the first Coloradan to die in the war.

His name still appears in gold lettering above the temporary bar set up at the VFW during the First Friday art walk.

In 1913, the Army of the Philippines merged with an Ohio and Pennsylvania-based organization, the American Veterans of Foreign Service. The new conglomerate would be called the Veterans of Foreign Wars, with Denver’s group becoming Post 1.

The VFW and its predecessor organization have been meeting in the city every month for 124 years.

“We’re proud to be first,” Stevens said.

A storage room in the back of the building holds more than a century’s worth of VFW history, including a cannon brought back in pieces from the Philippines and the hat Stewart wore the day he was shot and killed.

Bartges, on a recent tour of the building, looked longingly at a black-and-white photo of the post’s members — several hundred strong — posing several decades ago in front of the state Capitol.

Membership was much stronger back then, the commander noted, peaking in 1949 with 2,461 members.

But it was “definitely a racist, exclusive organization.”

By the time Bartges, a queer woman, became commander this year, though, the glass ceilings already had been broken. The post previously had its first female and gay commanders.

“So I just took the helm — nothing to say,” said Bartges, a former Army intelligence analyst who served in Iraq. “I was like, ‘Heck, yeah.’”

These days, the post — one of 15 in metro Denver and 87 throughout Colorado — stands 977 members strong. One member, astronaut Scott Kelly, made history in 2015 when he joined the first VFW from the International Space Station.

“We wanted to shake everything up”

VFW Post 1 prides itself on being different and progressive.

But it wasn’t easy convincing the more traditional members to turn its building into an art gallery.

“It was a bit contentious,” Bartges said. “But we thought the VFW needs to change to survive.”

Until 2019, the VFW nationwide suffered 17 straight years of declining membership. The national organization has lost half its members since 1992. Long a staple for Vietnam War and World War II veterans, those who fought in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars have been far less likely to turn to the VFW.

“We wanted to shake everything up,” Bartges said.

In 2015, Stevens helped launch the Veterans Arts Council, a nonprofit founded by VFW Post 1. The council “showcases, mentors, educates and provides economic opportunities for veteran artists working in any medium from all generations and service backgrounds,” according to its website.

The year prior, the post purchased the 131-year-old building on Santa Fe Drive, which formerly served as an auto parts store and then an art gallery. Post 1, in its first four decades, convened at numerous locations around Denver. From the 1940s through the early 2000s, the organization used two locations on Bannock Street, just off Speer Boulevard, maintaining the traditional VFW vibe.

But the move to the historic Santa Fe Arts District made the gallery idea a natural fit.

Stevens was the perfect man to lead the project. In 1993, 23 years after being shot in the head while serving in Vietnam, a bullet fragment shifted in his head, causing a stroke. It also left Stevens, a professor of business and employment law at the University of Colorado, legally blind.

But that didn’t stop him from his creative pursuits — and helping other veterans do the same.

On the second Saturday of every month, the Veterans Arts Council puts out an open call for art. Veterans, plus civilian artists, can bring in their work. They reserve 80% of the gallery for veterans and the art changes every month. Those vets that do get their art showcased give up 10% of sales to the VFW, while others send 20% to the organization.

On a First Friday earlier in December, veteran artists proudly stood by their work, answering questions from interested patrons.

Angel Espino first got started in the Art of War Project, an organization helping veterans with PTSD through artistic expression.

“It was very therapeutic,” Espino, an abstract impressionist artist, said. “We talked about serious stuff that may not have come out otherwise.”

Chuck Rasco stood on the other end of the hall in front of his photography. He first started displaying and selling his art at the VFW in 2018 after spending 10 years in the U.S. Army.

“We’re all more like-minded here,” he said of showing his work at the VFW’s gallery. “We don’t have that hoity-toity gallery feel.”

The VFW, he said, feels like home.

Nicole Jirtle never thought she would join the VFW. But the former Army medic found this post to be different than the traditional VFWs.

She now teaches a free yoga class Tuesday nights, a group she now calls “a little family.” The attendees aren’t your typical yogis — many are men in their 50s or 60s who may have never tried the practice. They all enjoy pizza and beer together afterward.

Painting helped Jirtle process her deployment to Iraq.

“It feels good to channel the angst and tension you feel,” she said.

First Fridays bring in $5,000 to $10,000 in art sales, Stevens said. Every penny helps the VFW work toward much-needed building renovations crippled by the COVID-19 pandemic and escalated supply chain costs. The organization was able to complete Phase 1 of an extensive rebuild but needs to raise more funding to install an elevator.

Membership among young and female members is increasing at VFW Post 1, he said.

On Dec. 2, the post held its annual birthday celebration — 124 years serving Denver veterans.

“I’m so excited for where we’re going,” Bartges said. “We have this incredible opportunity for younger vets to make this what we want.”

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