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           Riverside, Calif. -- Mark Lubich, an Army veteran from Olympia, Wash., is in Riverside, Calif., this week to exhibit his award-winning artwork at the 2008 National Veterans Creative Arts Festival.

           The Festival culminates a year-long fine arts talent competition in art, music, drama, dance and creative writing. The program is open to all veterans who receive care at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical facilities. The talented veterans invited to the Festival are all first, second or third place winners, who were selected this year from nearly 3,100 entries and 150 different categories.

           Lubich is one of more than 130 U.S. military veterans from across the nation invited to the event for a week of workshops and rehearsals that began on October 21. The 2008 Festival ends with an art exhibit and a gala variety stage show on Sunday, October 26 at the Riverside Convention Center. There, the music, drama, dance and creative writing winners will take part in an inspiring stage show backed by a professional orchestra. The artists will exhibit their first-place artwork in the lobby of the Riverside Convention Center immediately prior to the stage show.

           Lubich won first place in the national art competition in the glasswork category. He will display his winning glasswork piece entitled, "Conversations with Picasso" during this year's art exhibit at the Festival. Lubich began dabbling in the arts back in 1994. At that time, his work was all mixed media paintings and assemblage. In 2000, however, he bought a kiln and began experimenting in fused glass. A self-taught artist, Lubich did take one pottery class as a freshman in college. Lubich receives care at the VA medical facility in Seattle, Wash. His artwork was entered through the VA facility in Tacoma, Wash., American Lake Division

           "My experiences with VA have helped me discover and develop my creative side," said Lubich. "Any program like the National Veterans Creative Arts Festival, that encourages creativity, stretches the imagination and helps one focus on the positive, is a program worth supporting and participating in."

           The National Veterans Creative Arts Festival is presented by VA, the American Legion Auxiliary and Help Hospitalized Veterans. It is being hosted this year by the VA Loma Linda Healthcare System.

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Note to Editor: Background information is available on the Festival's Web site:
www.creativeartsfestival.va.gov.

If you want to interview Lubich, he can be reached at (360) 438-1116 after October 27.