Artist Helps Promote Peace Through Her Work

Dwayne Wilder
The Denison Daily Post
Monday, July 8, 2002

Julie Verschoyle has only been in Denison for a week and she says she already loves it.

"There's so much to do and the artists atmosphere is wonderful," said Verschoyle.  That is important to Verschoyle because she is the latest artist in residence at Tortorici International.  She will be painting and sharing her craft through September.

"Artists yearn for a time and a place to paint without outside influences," said Verschoyle, a contemporary artist.  "This is a wonderful program."  Verschoyle, a native of San Antonio, has been painting for about seven years.

"This time," she quickly interjected.  "I have been painting since I was knee-high to a duck but had quit to raise a family and be a mom."  But something happened which made Verschoyle go back to her art.

"I developed Duplopia where my vision split," she said.  "I would see two of everything.  Doctors don't know how it happens."

"I had to start painting again to correct it," she said.  The "paint therapy" has worked well and her eyes are doing well now.

Verschoyle also is the founder and executive director of Project Palette, a humanitarian organization which promotes peace through the arts.

She began the humanitarian work in 1997 when she went to Bosnia to take art supplies to working artists and pediatric hospitals in Sarajevo.

Roses growing on the streets of war torn Sarajevo prompted Verschoyle to work with art to help heal the wounds of war.  Project Palette also fosters communication between diverse groups.

Verschoyle has also taken the program to San Antonio area prisons and worked with gang members to show them how to use art to express their feelings.  Color the World in Peace, the latest mission of Project Palette, is creating a traveling exhibition of various artists promoting world peace.  Artists from England, Italy, Egypt, Russia, and the United States have already committed to the program, according to Verschoyle.

In addition, she teaches the principles of the program to youth.  Verschoyle will spend two weeks in August at schools in Utopia, in South Texas, teaching students about art and art expression.

But the rest of the time, Verschoyle will be painting in Denison and studying genealogy when she can.

"I have some heritage from Denison and north Texas," she explained.  "Some of my ancestors came through here on their way to San Antonio."