Veterans Art Gallery
Creative Expression Shaped by Military Service
Our newest exhibition opened on Veterans Day and will remain on display through Spring 2025.
Clutch’s War Stories: The Artwork of Willie Grimes features artwork Grimes created for am upcoming graphic novel on the Battle of Britain, the first major military campaign fought entirely by air forces.
Master Sergeant Willie “Clutch” Grimes was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia. He joined the US Army in May 1995 after attending Virginia Commonwealth University.
From a young age Willie desired to be a soldier and had a heart for service to his country. He first enlisted as an Armor crewman (19K MOS). His last duty station was in Hawaii at Schofield Barracks where he served as a Platoon Sergeant with the 25th Infantry Division’s 1-14 Infantry Battalion, Bravo Company.
He was wounded during a “no-notice” mission in Sadr City, Iraq on April 1, 2008, on the fifth day of a 48-day battle. While on a mission with his company’s sniper team, a massive improvised explosive device (IED) detonated at the base of a building on which the team was positioned. Despite several injuries, the team survived the attack.
Grimes sustained a traumatic brain injury and other injuries from the explosion. He returned to the United States and began recovery from his wounds, work he still continues today.
His art, in all its shapes and forms, is his therapy. He combines his love of art and photography to produce stories of well-known battles and unknown acts of valor from soldiers past and present in comic form and using other mixed media art forms.
The Virginia War Memorial Veterans Art Gallery is showcasing some of Clutch’s latest work — artwork he has created for a graphic novel on the Battle of Britain, the first major military campaign fought entirely by air forces.
The campaign, from July until the end of October 1940, overlapped the Germans’ Blitz air raids over London.
In 2021, Memorial Director Dr. Clay Mountcastle interviewed Grimes about his work.
We are pleased to be able to offer regular exhibitions of Veterans Art in the C. Kenneth Wright Pavilion. This space is a natural extension of our efforts to provide veterans a safe place, free from judgment and convention, to tell their stories in their own words and images.
Visiting the Veterans Art Gallery is free and the space is open during museum hours.
