Western sophomore Kelley Palmer-McCarty stood in the center of the Viking Union sixth floor Tuesday afternoon holding a sign with the question “What is War?” painted on it. She wore a self-sewn dress made of camouflage-printed fabric, decorated with a fabric skeleton and red rivers. Presenting her dress in a public place and observing the viewers’ reactions was done for a final art project for her Art During Wartime class.

Palmer-McCarty said one person approached her to talk about her art project to answer the question “What is War?” Later on, Palmer-McCarty said she had to verbally ask the question to people as they walked by to receive an answer.

“It’s easy for someone to walk away [from art],” said assistant art professor John Feodorov, “How do you get people to think before they react is the crux of the [Art During Wartime] class.”

Provided through Fairhaven College and taught by Feodorov, fall quarter was the first time Art During Wartime had been offered. The 15-student class incorporated art history and studio art, relating contemporary issues with history, Feodorov said.

“[The class] has opened me up to see how other people view war and how it influences them,” Palmer-McCarty said.

In her other history classes, Palmer-McCarty said she has not learned about art in war, and she has learned that art, even in children’s books, can show how governments and groups can influence the public.

Feodorov has shown art through photography, paintings and music to students that relate to topics such as art during revolutions, art servicing fascism, propaganda, political statements and how art has been used to manipulate and control people and societies.

“The class is to give students historical perspective on how art has responded to war — either to promote it, commemorate it or protest it,” Feodorov said.

Feodorov said topics can be very intense to learn about and students have been very receptive to Art During Wartime.

“Some tears have been shed because of the intensity of the subject,” Feodorov said. “I’m really proud of how students have taken subjects seriously, voicing questions and opinions.”

Palmer-McCarty said her sketchbook is full of dead bodies and grenades and students should prepare themselves to see some things they might not want to.

Feodorov said some students came into the class with firm or underdeveloped opinions about war, but his goal was met when student assumptions were eroded and they left the class with new opinions.

“We were able to have personal discussions and experiences where other places you’re not going to share those things,” Western senior Margaret Vailencour said.

Western sophomore Rick Lawson, a Washington National Guard veteran, was discharged from Iraq in the spring of 2005. He said he was originally unsure about taking Art During Wartime because he was worried with facing how disconnected people are with the war, but instead he said the students took the class personally.

“People were open and responsive to really thinking what war really is instead of it just being a concept,” Lawson said.

Lawson’s final project was of a painting he had done on the back of his uniform jacket. He has collected more than 20 other veterans' painted jackets, which he will be presenting in The War Experience Project, held Dec. 5 at the Whatcom Peace and Justice Center.

Feodorov said he is unsure of when there will be a time available to teach Art During Wartime in the future, but he hopes it will be possible.

“Art isn’t divorced from society. It’s not a narcissistic experience of the self only. There's a social role,” Feodorov said. “I hope people come away from the class with a new appreciation of how art is relevant.”

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