Still dreaming of painting more war scenes

FARGO, N.D. — A former North Dakota State University architecture student still dreams of becoming an official military artist, despite missing a recent opportunity to set up her easel for the Army.

Lt. Heather Englehart already has several pieces in the official U.S. Army art collection, after she volunteered to paint while serving as a reserve engineering officer in Iraq more than six years ago. Shortly after returning home to New Orleans and a job at an architectural firm, she was back on active duty for what has become an ongoing job of recovery and rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina.

Englehart recently was offered a chance to deploy for the sole purpose of painting, but decided to wait until a project was done in New Orleans and then couldn't find a unit to join overseas.

"Would I love to go there? Absolutely. It's a huge honor to be able to do that for your country," Englehart said. "Realistically, I don't know."

She didn't intend to paint when she headed to Iraq in the fall of 2003. Jim Pollock, a Vietnam War artist from Engelhart's hometown of Pierre, S.D., found out about her talent and sent her sketchbooks, water colors, water color pads and other supplies. Pollock also recommended Englehart to Renee Klish, curator of the U.S. Army art collection.

"Jim was a great mentor and a very big inspiration," Englehart said of Pollock, whom she has never met face-to-face.

Englehart worked around her normal duties as an engineering officer in Iraq to fill several sketchbooks and complete about 20 paintings. She started painting in a tent before she was moved to a climate controlled work shop to keep her work from getting sandblasted.

"I have some pieces where it looks like I have put a beige background on them," Englehart said. "It's not. It's the sand that has penetrated the paper itself."

Her favorite pieces are Flight Line By Sunrise, which depicts a row of Blackhawk helicopters in the early morning desert sky, and Ambush, which shows soldiers taking cover behind the large wheels of armored vehicles.

"That flight line is on the back side of the office space I worked out of, so that has personal meaning for me as well as it captures some of the beauty," she said. "Iraq has some of the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets. It's ironic considering you have this war torn country and there's this natural beauty."

The scene for Ambush was ironic as well. Englehart and her unit were returning from a training exercise on how to react to surprise attacks when their convoy was ambushed with explosives. She considered the incident so surreal she painted it in black, white and gray tones.

"It's almost like the sound and everything is blocked out," Engelhart said.

Englehart's work is unique because of her architectural training and background, Klish said.

"She can depict something as simple as water bottles, yet make it show the everyday life of the soldier," Klish said.

Pollock said Englehart is carrying on a tradition of soldier artists from South Dakota, including Harvey Dunn in World War I and Steve Randall in Vietnam.

"I just think Heather did a wonderful job of capturing the essence of what's going on," Pollock said. "An artist can offer such a good historical perspective. They can pick a situation and focus in on some element of it."