May 8, 2014

CU Denver student honored for Art of War Project

Curt Bean and his mentor in the Boots to Suits program, Deborah Jordy, right and girlfriend Ashley

By Cathy Beuten | CU system

It takes about two hours and 30 minutes to drive from Denver to Salida, but for College of Arts & Media student Curt Bean, the path took more than five years.

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Bean recently traveled to Salida to receive one of three 2014 Governor’s Creative Leadership Awards commissioned by Colorado Creative Industries (CCI)  for founding the Art of War Project, which supports veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder through creative expression.  

After witnessing horrific tragedy in two tours of duty that included losing four friends in a roadside bombing, Bean, a former Army sniper, suffered severely from PTSD. He found solace in all the wrong places before finding help through a Denver VA Medical Center seven-week program and a local charity – Helpoutnothandouts.org – that paid his bills while he received treatment.  With their assistance, he not only found the strength to help himself, he found the will to help others.

Bean was nominated for the award by his mentor in the CU Denver Boots to Suits Program, Deborah Jordy, executive director for the Colorado Business Committee for the Arts.

The Art of War Project  offers veterans a path to healing through visual art and creative expression. Bean, who has sold many of his paintings, offers free classes to veterans once a month at South Broadway’s Hope Tank as a way for vets to get the painful images and memories out of their minds and onto the canvas or other mediums.

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Curt Bean and the artist commissioned to create the award, Jimmy Descant
The award committee also noted Bean’s involvement in CU Denver’s Boots to Suits program, which teams with the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce to assist highly trained and well-educated veterans as they move from the classroom to a career.

Nominations for the award were based on:

  • Significance and magnitude of the use of the arts and the creative sector to enhance Colorado's social and/or economic fabric, quality of life and well-being
  • Breadth of populations served by arts actions
  • Extent of vision and long-term community impact

Bean was featured on KDVR’s “Home from War” series.  

“Not dealing with it is not the right answer,” he told KDVR. “There are a lot of good things in the future for me and I’m looking forward to it.”

Bean, who anticipates receiving his bachelor of fine arts degree from CU Denver in a year, was also featured in February’s 5280 and in the May 12 Westword.

 

Photos:

  • Top: Curt and his mentor in the Boots to Suits program, Deborah Jordy, right, and girlfriend Ashley
  • Center, from left, Margaret Hunt of Colorado Creative Industries, Curt Bean and Izzy Abbass, program director of Boots to Suits
  • Bottom: Bean and the artist commissioned to create the award, Jimmy Descant