Joe Winslow operates Advanced Arts Management, Inc. in Luray
~ PVN staff report
LURAY, Sept. 13 — This evening at the National World War One Memorial at 14th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, NW in Washington, D.C., a sculpture will be unveiled at 7:15 p.m. featuring local artist and sculptor Joe Winslow.
“The depiction of me in this monumental work is my simply standing-in for all the Fallujah Marines of Operation Phantom Fury, who in ‘their’ work to gather up their Marines in battle, fell in service to this great country,” Winslow said.
The combat veteran of the Iraq War is depicted as a sculpted character in the World War One Memorial — a chaplain, who is lifting a fallen soldier off the ground with the help of another soldier. Following Winslow’s depiction is a nurse holding up another wounded man as she moves him toward an aid station.
Winslow, who operates Advanced Arts Management, Inc. in Luray, is one of only six living veterans depicted in the composition called “A Soldier’s Journey”. He was asked by the sculptor, Sabin Howard, to be a part of the memorial after he attended a reception for Sabin at his studio in New York.
After speaking with the sculptor’s wife Traci, who asked about his connection to the sculpture, Winslow shared that he participated in combat operations as a Field Historian and Combat Artist where he accompanied infantry assault units to record their operations for the National Museum of the Marine Corps. He described his role as “having a rifle in one hand and a sketch pad in the other.” He completed field sketches and renderings of combat action, collected battle artifacts, and documented operations, and came home to begin sculptural and fine art representations of Marines in action.
“Sabin and Traci both immediately understood that I had lived through a lot of the scenes and emotions conveyed in the memorial,” Winslow said. “They felt like my experiences, temperament and expressions would add to the visual story. I’m deeply honored they asked me to participate and am using this to represent other veterans who have given so much more”.
The sculpture, “A Soldier’s Journey,” began in 2019 after the World War I Centennial Commission was authorized by Congress to erect the national memorial at a cost of about $44 million. The bronze work is 58 feet long and 10 feet high, with 38 figures of “doughboys” and nurses. The work is to serve as “America’s World War I memorial” when it is unveiled at Pershing Park this evening.
”It will be, by some accounts, the largest freestanding bronze relief in the western hemisphere,” reported Jim Beckman of NorthJersey.com. “In five scenes, the sculpture will depict the journey of the American ‘doughboys’ from home, through the horror of the 1914-1918 war — which the United States entered in 1917 — and back.”
The Smithsonian is calling the work “the greatest memorial bronze of the modern age.” For three years, in a cavernous studio in Englewood, New Jersey, the sculptor and a handful of assistants have been working on “A Soldier’s Journey,” Washington’s newest monument. .
“This memorial depicts the types of engagement that I had participated in or witnessed when I was in Iraq,” Winslow said, “and I think that resonates with the timelessness of what combat extracts from those who participate in it.”
The narrative of the sculpture moves from left to right, as the figures advance and plunge into the battle, and emerge transformed. Everything seems to be in motion. Some elements look like they’ve levitated. Winslow is featured in the portion of the composition labeled by the sculptor as the “pieta” of the composition. The pieta portion of the composition is meant to convey the combatants gathering one another to themselves, caring for the wounded and fearful, and helping them move forward.
This particularly resonates with Winslow who has always felt as though his calling as a Marine Officer was buttressed by his conviction that it was his duty to gather together the young Marines around him and help them move forward, both professionally and personally.
“It was like some kind of cosmic serendipity that I was asked to be a part of the monument,” Winslow said. “Over the last 30 years I’ve managed sensitive national security programs, documented military history for combat commands, and contributed to the Marine Corps Combat Art Program as a sculptor, but I had just begun returning to my roots as an artist and sculptor and was beginning to receive commissions for sculptural work. So to be a part of this at the same time, it really helped me refocus in on why and how I was going to resume my artistic career.”
Having been back at the artist’s bench for several years now, Winslow describes his artistic approach as conveying: “that America’s young men and young women are up to the task of defending our country as much as they were during WWII, Viet Nam and Korea, and that when we call upon these young people who become Marines, they respond because they believe in our country. They believe in what they are doing, and they are going to do whatever it takes — up to and including giving their lives — to defend what we have here. They make that choice willingly, and they are very capable of doing it.”
Each of Winslow’s creations carry a common message.
“I want to make sure that Americans understand and fully appreciate the specialness of these young men and women who, at a very young age, make this commitment. They are giving America a blank check and they are doing it because they believe in it. They are loving, caring, and patriotic young people who are literally giving all of their tomorrows to accomplish what they pledged to do.”
He hopes that his art will elicit a sense of gratitude among those who view them.
“Our wonderful lives that we enjoy as Americans in this country are not an accident and didn’t come by chance,” Winslow said. “The freedoms and privileges that we have in this country were bought and paid for by people like those I represent in my art.”
Winslow’s educational background includes honor studies in Fine Art, Drawing, Art History, and Architectural Design and business. Notable creative arts achievements include winning AIA Juried Design Awards and multiple juried art competitions, and sculpting for the White House and office of the President of the United States.
Prior to his formal studies, he grew up with an artist/architect father, where he developed a love of watercolor compositions and plein-air sketching. His art related academic work has been bolstered by university studies and extensive professional education and certifications.
This article was created with information provided by Advanced Arts Management, Inc.
Additional information about Joe Winslow is available at:
https://joewinslow1.com/about.
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