Scott DeLuzio: [00:00:00] Thanks for tuning in to the Drive On Podcast where we are focused on giving hope and strength to the entire military community. Whether you’re a veteran, active duty, guard, reserve, or a family member, this podcast will share inspirational stories and resources that are useful to you. I’m your host, Scott DeLuzio, and now let’s get on with the show.

Hey everyone. Welcome back to Drive On. I’m your host, Scott DeLuzio. And today, my guest is Geoffrey Bowton. Geoffrey is an army veteran who has transformed his experiences and challenges into powerful works of art. From serving as a sheet metal worker to deploying in Iraq and Afghanistan, Geoffrey discovered his passion for art during his deployments, using it as a means to cope with the stresses of military life.

And today we’ll explore Geoffrey’s journey, his artistic processes, and how his work helps veterans and [00:01:00] their families. Um, Geoffrey, welcome to the show. Really glad to have you here.

Geoffrey Bowton: Yeah, thanks for inviting me, Scott. I really appreciate a chance to get out to the world and talk about, talk to them about what my art’s about. And, um, yeah, so happy to be here.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, you bet. Um, and one of the things I, I, I. I found with myself personally, before I joined the army, I didn’t have an artistic bone in my body. Like there was no, I wasn’t into painting or sculpting or you name it. Like none of that stuff really jived with me. It just wasn’t my, my thing. Um, but there was a period of time afterwards where I just found like some peace in just sitting there and painting, and I can spend hours just sitting there painting the same thing and, um, you know, working on that.

And there was just that brief period of time, I found some peace there. And so, um, [00:02:00] I’m sure your experiences are maybe, maybe somewhat similar. Other people might, might experience that as well. Um, but. You know, I, you know, we’ll get, we’ll get more into that, I guess, in a little bit. Let’s, let’s start kind of take it back a little bit.

Start by talking about maybe your, your journey from, um, you know, like how you got into the army, um, and, and your experiences in the army and, and, and we’ll take it from there.

Geoffrey Bowton: Yeah. Um, so I think it was, uh, 2008 when I enlisted. Um, so I’d spent 15 years, um, In Oregon, uh, Portland, Oregon as a sheet metal worker, um, going through an apprenticeship program. Um, you know, I was a, uh, apprentice and journeyman. Um, yeah, so that was a great experience, you know, and then after that was over, just went into different job sites, like to Intel’s, Romner Acres, Nike, Campus, um, Boeing, things like that.

So just different commercial construction locations. Um, but yeah, for me, work came slow in [00:03:00] 2008 and recession hit and, um, You know, that’s when I decided to join the army. I had, you know, bills to pay, things to do in life. So it was just important to kind of keep pressing on. But, um, you know, I was inspired to, uh, join in the time, um, that I, you know, in that moment, I guess.

So for me, that was just a pivotal change, um, from one career kind of stepping into another. Yeah.

Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, um, yeah, I can imagine a lot of people around that time period, uh, with the recession, jobs are maybe hard to come by, uh, not, things are just not going well in the economy, um, you know, and, hey, we’re, we’re fight...