ANVAM

Families gather. Families share. At ANVAM, wellbeing, community, kinship & culture are at the heart 🫶🏽 of everything we to do. This National Families Week, we recognise the extraordinary resilience of defence & veteran families - navigating service life, periodic moves & postings, transition & the unique challenges that come with these. Families, advocates, mentors & the community continue to call for greater responsiveness to the REAL NEEDS of those who serve & walk alongside. Arts engagement offers a MEANINGFUL pathway - accessible, evidence-informed & effective. Through creative expression, individuals find connection, process experience, positively impacts health & wellbeing. Arts & creative engagement deserves a CENTRAL place in how we RESPOND to the challenges facing families across service life & beyond. When families are supported to FLOURISH, our whole defence & veteran community is STRONGER & thrives. A force for change! 📸: courtesy @lensoforion (thank you!) #VeteranArtsCommunity #NationalFamiliesWeek #DefenceFamilies #ArtsCultureWellbeing #FamiliesofVeterans

~ Birds🐦‍⬛Village A nest is not built in a single day — it comes from weaving, staying, & the fraying, from twigs borne far across a stranger’s sky, from wings grown strong in learning to say goodbye. Some birds are bound to one familiar tree; others learn to carry home within their chest, to trust a strange branch, read an unknown wind, & teach their young the blessed art of rest. Here the tired ones land, the small are fed; the family that held it all together, the village holds them now instead — your feathers bent, yet sheltered from the weather. For birds were never made to fly alone — they were made for the long road coming home. Kindly shared, with gratitude & permission this Mother’s Day 🪺 by a Mother, Partner, Carer, Daughter, Aunt & Sister. Birds Village,©️2026. #VeteranArtsCommunity #MothersDay #BirdsVillage #CommunityBuilding #FamiliesWeek2026

Raised 26 thousand dollars for @anvam310 Massive donation from @endstatezulu we planned to sell 60 merch shirts with my silly head on it. And sold them out in a few hours. So did 90 instead. Thanks mate. Your time and effort is appreciated. And your shirts rule. Gladstone RSL popped on a surprise raffle before my show and raised 600 bucks. Absolute legends. And merch sales from the weekend bring our total to 13k raised. And Veterans First Consulting matching dollar for dollar the first 25k means it’s at 26k raised. I’m marching Kokoda to raise money to get Veteran’s artwork on display and in exhibitions. To bring purpose and inspire people to do anything. See @phil_brooksy as an example. Exceptional talent.

TONY DALTON Seahawk (detail) ink on paper, 2025 I have always been drawn to flight, & the Navy gave me the opportunity to fly at sea. As my flying career drew to a close, I was curious about how to capture the sense of movement & motion in depicting some of the helicopters I got to fly. A bit of hit-&-miss experimentation led me to stippling, which seemed to achieve my aim. A dear friend who was fascinated with her local magpies prompted me to apply the technique to a bird as a birthday gift for her. In this picture, l’ve attempted to combine the wonder of flight, motion & movement in a Seahawk, which also just happens to be the name of the Navy helicopter I spent the most time flying. #M2A26 #seahawk #stippling #veteranartscommunity #veteransarts

‘Art is the activity by which a person, having experienced an emotion, intentionally transmits it to others.’ - Leo Tolstoy Thanks to Wedderburn/Korong Vale RSL, Loddon Shire Council & Loddon Valley Arts Trail for the opportunity to contribute to this commemorative event through the vision of the artists. A shoutout to Veteran Artists Sacha de Wit 🧵with Kirshy McAinch 🎶 & Lou Stod 📖 for creating such a deeply compelling work. A privilege to be able to continue to share The Unknown Widow within & across community. A work which continues to transcend time & townships. 📣 Next stop Coonawarra & Penola RSL & Penola Coonawarra Arts Festival on 15-17 May 2026 • Shared via @loddonshire ‘It was a special day in Wedderburn on Monday when Loddon Shire Council presented a poignant reminder of World War I sacrifice to the Wedderburn Korong Vale RSL. An embroidered handkerchief contained the words that adorn the gravestone at Tyne Cot Cemetery, Passchendaele, Belgium, of Frederick Cairns Drysdale, a 23-year-old Wedderburn soldier who was killed in action in Belgium in 1917. The words were written by his family after the war, when the Australian Government invited the loved ones of those who paid the ultimate price to submit a short epitaph for the gravestone. Fast forward 108 years & the words on Private Drysdale’s were part of the Australian National Veterans Art Museum exhibition - featuring embroidered handkerchiefs of the epitaphs - in Wedderburn in 2025 as part of the Loddon Valley Arts festival. This particular handkerchief was presented to Council, which has framed & donated it to the Wedderburn Korong Vale RSL. Pictured at the presentation on Monday are Wedderburn Korong Vale RSL president Roger Paterson, Frederick Drysdale’s great niece Judith Sobol, great-great-nephew Derek Drysdale, great-niece Margaret Matthews & great-great-niece Lynette Matthews with Loddon Shire Council Tourism Coordinator Bradd Worrell.’ You can read more about this story at www.loddon.vic.gov.au/News/An-artistic-way-to-remember-our-fallen #VeteranArtsCommunity #Family #TUW #artofliving #together

Preparations are already underway for my first solo exhibition as part of Melbourne Fringe. It will be held at @anvam310 starting at the end of September. More details will follow as the dates get closer including new pieces to be revealed & some older ones making a comeback (🪼?). It’ll be colourful, whimsical and just a little bit weird. #veteranartist #veteranart

Belonging is what MAKES community - FAMILY. ✨ These past few weeks? Pure proof of that! The team has been working to - shape policy, driving RESEARCH, creating real IMPACT & change, & showing the world how the Arts continue to fuel WELLBEING. We’ve opened our doors to curious minds, co-created programs, honoured those who serve/d, & welcomed visitors from ‘down the road & across the globe.’ 🌏 Through EVERY proposal, every request, every moment of reflection - we SHOW what’s actually POSSIBLE together. This work lives in research, in LIVED experience, in impact - & most of all, in the RELATIONSHIPS we nurture every single day. None of this happens without YOU & your support! 👊🏽 #localknowlegde #favouriteplaces #310SKR #VeteranArtsCommunity #Family 📸: courtesy @lensoforion @yaamba422 @davidshoebridge

📣 Answer the call! • Share in supporting the return of 310SKR to the Veteran & Veteran Family Community • The care, advocacy & work undertaken by ANVAM to ensure that ALL in our community may continue to SHARE in the future of this COMMUNITY & cultural asset has CONTINUED for the last 15 years • SHOW YOUR SUPPORT for the ‘Home of Veterans Arts’ 🏛️ 310 St Kilda Road, Southbank (#310SKR) • Visit our website, send/write a letter of support &/or join us tomorrow | 5.30pm - 8pm | for the Australian Government & Defence community information session - registration & information via link in our stories ⬆️

A poem written for the 10,000th day milestone since 310 St Kilda Road last held purpose. Now 11,075 days later… 💪🏽 Share YOUR support for 310SKR at the Defence Consultation: 🗓️ TUES 28 April 2026 | 5:30pm - 8pm |🎤Defence address & Q&A from 6pm 📍Yarra's Edge Community Space, Array Tower, 100 Lorimer Street, Docklands Register via 🔗 in story fence.gov.au/about/locations-property/delivering-future-estate/defence-estate-audit-community-information-sessions/register ✍🏽 10,000 days written by M. Johnston #Veteranledplacemaking #VeteranArtsCommunity #ArtofLiving #ArtsCultureWellbeing #310skr🏛

• Anzac Day 2026 REBEKAH (BEK) HERRON Waiting Boots (detail) pastel on paper & mat, 2024/25 I am an Air Force veteran artist considering a human experience of a career in the military. My art speaks of my perspectives as a woman, a mother, a carer & a health professional, & how these roles & common human emotions intersect & often harshly sit juxtaposed with the culture & requirements of military service. At the end of my 20-year military career, an experience through ANVAM evoked a curiosity to explore how to document & process my thoughts, feelings & emotions through different artistic mediums. With ongoing development & learning, I continue to deconstruct my reality as a veteran, a woman & an Australian, through my arts practice. Waiting Boots: ‘I decided to draw my old work boots & when I entered my wardrobe, I saw my entire uniform hanging up as if tomorrow I would head into work. It was emotionally overwhelming after my unexpected change in career. The weeks of drawing every detail of my boots was cathartic & soothing. #Anzacday2026 #ArtofLiving #WomenVeterans #ArtsCultureWellbeing #Family

FRIYAY! ☀️ The FOVA ‘wash up’ has been underway as the team & community keeps on building 🔗 🎭 new community connections & delivering 📦 🚚 artworks, programs & projects in collaboration with veteran artists, arts mentors & cultural/arts institutions Thanks to all who joined us last night for a FOVA feedback & integration catchup online - so grateful (GLAD) to be able to connect across the country to continue to grow & contribute to the Veteran Arts Community ECOSYSTEM - so all in the community can get involved & engage in the Arts in local, regional & national (& international) opportunities! 🤹🏽🕺🏼 Some FOVA ‘folks & fotos’ that are testament to the importance of that ‘FOVA EXPERIENCE’ (coined by @robbymacca !) of belonging & the many valued connections beyond the festival itself - thanks ALL ☀️ see you again soon! 📸: courtesy @lensoforion @yaamba422 @kellymanning1 @tanjarini @sita_norsworthy_photography #FOVA26 #Family #310SKR #ArtofLiving #AnzacDay2026

The team took time yesterday to commemorate together, in community & in the lead up to Anzac Day, by attending the VCA’s Art Forum at Federation Hall. Shared via @vca_mcm ‘Commemorating the recent restoration of the Honour Board, Dr Bronwyn Hughes OAM discusses students from VCA (formerly National Gallery Art School 1867-1973) who served during WWI. Dr Bronwyn Hughes OAM is an art historian who has researched Australia’s stained glass for more than forty years. Prior to her ‘retirement’, she taught glass studies at Monash University, Holmesglen Institute & the University of Melbourne. Through the not-for-profit organisation, @glaasinc she supports glass education for the next generation of artists, glass for contemporary architecture & conservation of historic glass. Her book, Lights Everlasting: Australia’s Commemorative Stained Glass from the Boer War to Vietnam (2023) was followed by her involvement in a documentary on war service & sacrifice, Let the Light Shine (2024), & a podcast on the Vietnam Veterans Commemorative Walk at Seymour, A Memory in Light (2025). Dr Hughes’ latest project is a book in conjunction with Dr Alison Inglis, LUMINOUS: John Orval & Modernist Stained Glass in Australia due for release in 2026.’ Featured on the Veterans Public Arts Trail (VPAT), the artists memorialised on the VCA Honour Board have informed Australia’s cultural landscape & it was a pleasure to join Dr Bronwyn Hughes, former VCA Director & ANVAM Board Member Jon Cattapan alongside VCA Director Jane Davidson, VCA’s Tracey Claire, Shrine Life Governor Peter Whitelaw, ANVAM Chairman Mark Johnston, together with Veteran Artists Paul Danaher, Stuart Lawrie, Dom Kul & Tanja Johnston to learn more about the creative lives of each of the artists. The restoration work was completed with a grant from the Victorian Veterans Council @nataliesuleymanmp #artsculturewellbeing #VPAT #AnzacDay2026 #lestweforget #310skr🏛