VA NY Harbor Healthcare System

Art Therapist Beryl Brenner, left, explains how the new kiln works to George Dougherty and Thomas O’Donnell of AMVETS Post 103, who donated the chamber. Veterans of the Veterans Support Center, who routinely use the kiln for their artwork, listen in.

When Beryl Brenner, Art Therapist at VA New York Harbor’s Brooklyn Campus, needed a new kiln for her Veteran’s Support Center, the AMVETS Post 103 answered the call. After all, the group had donated the first kiln years ago and was sort of delighted that the Veterans needed a bigger one.

A kiln looks like a small refrigerator or oven to the untrained eye. In reality, it is a chamber, much like an oven, that is used to melt, harden, burn or dry materials. The Veteran Support Center encompasses an art therapy group who makes everything from jewelry to art pieces and takes photographs. For these artists, another kiln was a necessity.

“With the program being so successful, they needed another one,” noted George Dougherty of Staten Island, the AMVETS representative at the hospital. Through fundraisers, the group purchased the second kiln and officially dedicated it in July, with Post Commander Thomas O’Donnell present.

“She’s adopted us and we’ve adopted them,” Doherty said of Brenner, who has been working with the Veterans group for several years.

“We do whatever we can,” Doherty said. Their involvement isn’t limited to art projects either. Recently, when a Veteran was in desperate need of new, clean clothes, the group responded swiftly, delivering the necessary supplies to the Poly Place hospital. “We can respond in urgent situations as well as planned events.”

Ms. Brenner explained the process of using a kiln, a very sophisticated method of heating glass to make art. “These are museum-quality pieces,” she said, showing off some of the work in the art room with Veteran artists looking on. “Having these tools has changed our program dramatically.”

She said that the new, larger kiln expands the group’s horizons.

One Veteran artist noted that when he is designing his glass art, he thinks of his family- and each piece of glass he places is a member of the family. “I put myself at the center.”

“They may look like abstract images, but they know exactly what they are doing,” Ms. Brenner said, noting that she’s seen her Veterans grow through self expression in the group. The same group recently had a show at the Whitney Museum, showcasing their still photographs.