ADRIAN — Back when Navy vet Terri Butler first got involved in the veterans’ group Woodworking for Warriors a few years ago, she had actually never done any woodworking. But she quickly picked up the skill, and for the last several months she and about 20 other veterans have been part of a collaboration between the Adrian Center for the Arts and Woodworking for Warriors.

The veterans were paired with ACA artists in a months-long project culminating in an exhibition and auction of their creations. The exhibit, called “Shared Grit,” features 28 pieces and runs through Nov. 15 at the ACA, located at 1375 N. Main St., Adrian.

All the artwork will be auctioned off at a reception from 2-4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8. Proceeds go to support Woodworking for Warriors, a nonprofit that uses woodworking as a way to bring veterans together for support and camaraderie.

Each piece of art contains wood as its basis, but also includes a variety of other media, including clay, metals, glass, sculptural materials, and more.

Over the ACA’s time in Adrian, the center has regularly teamed up with other nonprofit organizations by pairing an ACA member with a person served by the nonprofit, with each pair collaborating to create art for an exhibit. Woodworking for Warriors is the latest organization to be chosen.

“It’s such a great group,” said Pi Benio, ACA founder and programming director.

Benio herself teamed up with Woodworking for Warriors President John Abbey on a coat tree made of Michigan wood and stone.

The driftwood used for the coat hangers were pieces Benio collected at Lake Superior. “I’ve had it a long time and I didn’t know what I was going to do with it,” she said, and as the idea for the piece came together it made perfect sense to include the wood.

Also carrying on the Lake Superior theme are the decorative inset, which Benio created to look like diatoms — phytoplankton found in water — and the stone topping the entire piece. 

The stone’s natural heart shape was created by its long immersion in the lake’s waters and the action of the waves. The Jimi Hendrix lyric “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace” is carved on the stone.

“I’m an advocate for peace, and Pi is too,” Abbey said, “so we wanted to do something evocative of peace.”

Abbey said that having Benio for his artistic partner made things easy “because she can do anything,” he said. What wasn’t so easy, however, was meeting the challenge of working with such a talented artist.

“I was trying to rise to the level of my artist, which is impossible, but I wanted to do the best I could,” he said.

Butler worked with artist Julia Tomaro to create the three pieces they have in the exhibit. “She’s a fantastic partner,” Butler said. “Our minds worked well together.”

It all started with the two women brainstorming what to create, and “I told her about a piece of wood I had that I wanted to make a table out of,” Butler said.

That piece of wood turned into two tables and a piece to hang on a wall. And, as was the case with several of the artist-veteran pairs, Butler and Tomaro developed a bond that went well beyond the art, spending time together outside of the many hours spent working on their creations.

“I made a new friend and discovered my artistic side,” Butler, the woman who before Woodworking for Warriors had no idea how to do woodworking, said.

Yet another pairing that really clicked was the one between veteran Patrick Ferguson and glass artist Pat Deere, who teamed up to create a hall tree inspired by vintage carousels.

Ferguson has long been involved in art and woodworking himself, but this was the first time he’d made a piece of fine furniture.

Actually, he made the piece twice. The first one was crafted out of maple and then, when that choice of wood just didn’t look right, he changed his mind and built a whole new one using cherry.

“I suggested the hall tree to him, and my gosh, I caused him a lot of work,” Deere said, laughing. But as the project took shape, “I couldn’t have asked for a better partner.”

Her part of the project was to make the stained glass panel at the top of the piece. The two outer pieces depict trillium, a flower Deere loves. The center piece is designed to evoke the colorful panels that can be seen along the tops of classic carousels.

Painted details with the glass have as their inspiration the brass poles used to support the carousel animals and the ornamentation found on such carousels.

Working with the ACA artists to create the “Shared Grit” exhibit has been a great experience, Abbey said.

“This is, for us, an opportunity not just to do woodworking, but to collaborate,” he said. 

“What I heard [from the vets] was the energy that had to go into collaborating. You’re part of something, and being part of something makes you better. And the artists have been uniformly lovely.”

Benio said that the ACA’s partnerships with nonprofits such as Woodworking for Warriors are a way not only to support these groups, but to allow people to form the sorts of bonds experienced by the veterans with their partner artists.

“I want to make art relevant,” she said. “Some people think art is just a frill. But it’s not. Look at what these people built here in relationships.”

For more information on the ACA, go to adriancenterforthearts.org, email AdrianCenterfortheArts@gmail.com, or call 517-759-3005. For more on Woodworking for Warriors, go to woodworkingforwarriors.org or email john@woodworkingforwarriors.org.

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