The name and title of our event is inspired by artwork commissioned by Clyde Miller, a retired Army Veteran from Coopers Cove, TX. Clyde commissioned a custom piece featuring all the branches of the military with the tagline True Top 1%. The True Top 1% Project was created as a result of this special commissioned artwork. Through this project, we will highlight the experience of those who have served in the military or are currently serving.
Many people do not realize what our military goes through on a daily basis. Like my mother who served in the Air Force. There were many times when she would be gone for long periods of time training and we would have to stay with other people. She had to work long hours to get the job done to ensure that we could continue to enjoy our freedom. Like my grandfather, who went on temporary duty and also deployed to Vietnam. Or my aunt and uncle, who were in the Reserves, where they had not only their military job, but a civilian job and at times had to balance both of them when they were called up to active duty. Freedom is not Free, and we can thank those who served and currently serving for our freedoms that we enjoy every day.
The Art Work
All art starts with a story. So many of our military service members have stories that they do not know how to tell or show. JR Midwest Art Studio will sit down with active duty and retired veterans and comb through their service identifying imagery that pops out to create a masterpiece on canvas. The artwork will help veterans share their story.
Veterans Day 2022
There is an art exhibition scheduled for the weekend of Veterans Day (November 11-13, 2022) in South Bend, Indiana. It will start with a benefit dinner and live auction on Friday night for those involved in the True Top 1% Project. The Family Friendly Military Positive Exhibition will then be held Saturday and Sunday with an online and silent auction of the Top 31.
How will we do this
JR Midwest Art Studio will create 31 separate pieces of artwork highlighting the 31 different active duty and veterans and their time in the military. We will create an image depicting each individual story using a bottle method technique (similar to pointillism) on canvases from as small as 2’x4’ to as large at 4’x 15’ that will be displayed for sale at the art exhibition in November 2022 in South Bend, Indiana.
Branches of Military
JR Midwest Art Studio will be honoring every branch of the military in the art exhibition equally. Six individuals from all five branches of service plus 1 individual from the newly created Space Force will be selected to share their stories to be displayed.
When you hear the term “top 1%” most people think about the richest Americans. However, when JR Midwest Art Studio thinks of the “top 1%” we think of our US Armed Forces. Historically, only 1% of the population choose to join the military. So we created the True Top 1% Exhibition to help honor those who have served and are currently serving.
A 3-day event on Veterans Day weekend, that’s starts on Friday with a Benefit dinner that leads to a private reveal of the art and a thank you to all involved. The next 2 days will be an open viewing to the public and a silent auction to sell the 31 pieces of art to benefit the non-profits involved.
Less than 2 months away!
As part of our goal to showcase our Military and lift them in to a more positive light. We seek to encourage our community by showcasing different pieces of military history displayed from an assortment of private and local collections, including the Studebaker National Museum.
To honor and empower our military servicemembers, we are working with all of our vendors to provide free items or discounts on products/services to all active-duty and Veterans who attend the event. Just look for the flags displayed at the vendor booths saying "I support our True Top 1%er's".
How the vendor and everyone else recognize our military, is we will provide all our military who show up with a free USA wristband that all vendors will recognize you as military so you do not need to constantly show ID. All our military needs to do is; upon entrance of the venue, show up to our 'Thank A True Top 1%er's' greetings table and one of our Veteran Volunteers will check your idea and give you a wristband.
Our ultimate goal is to work alongside all of our branches of service to create the best annual experience for our military. For this reason, no political statements or material will be prohibited at this event.
As well as our historically displays, we will also have on display an assortment of military Vehicles from the National guard, a Huey Helicopter and possibly a 1979 AM General ambulance Jeep on display and available for interaction. You can not only ask questions and get them answered by the Veteran with the vehicle, you will also be able to climb in and check out all the vehicles for your self.
Part of our Top 31 we will have on display all 31 paintings we painted with a beer bottle of the image created of their time in the service. 12 would have been auctioned off the night before through our Live Auction. The remainder will be auctioned off through an online auction, right on this website and silent auction at the event itself.
Benefit Dinner:
Friday, November 11
5pm to 10pm with the festivities between 6pm and 9pm
Exhibition:
Saturday, November 12th
9am to 4pm
Sunday, November 13th
10am to 3pm
We will have 3 distinct Trademarked Shirts:
If yu want to pre order any shirts, please reach out to us: info@truetop1percent.com
More information coming soon. .. Our goal is to celebrate our 1st annual event with a benefit breakfast from 7 am to 9am right before it opens. However there are a few logistical items we must secure first.
During the dinner, we will play in the background a short video about 12 of the Veterans and the inspiration for their painting.
More to Come....
A local South Bend School Choir and their Band will preform a 20 - 30 minute tribute to our military
The food will be provided by LaSalle Grill in South Bend, IN.
Tickets are $310 To represent our Top 31, or you can buy a table. for more ticket information contact JR@TrueTop1Percent.com
As well as the Top31 pieces on display and for Auction, you will also get to meet and Thank the Veterans that are the inspiration behind the Top31.
As part of our True Top 1% Military Exhibition, we focus our attention every year on 31 different service members' time in the service. We work side by side with each Veteran through conversations to determine what image defines their time in the Military. These images are then sketched out and approved by both the artist and military service member.
Once approved each sketch will then become a final art masterpiece, painted only with a beer bottle as a PTSD awareness campaign that we do for our Veterans as an Art Therapy. (Please Visit the Art Therapy section under About TT1P. ) Each canvas will range in size from 2ftx4ft all the way to 4ftx15ft long. All 31 pieces will be auctioned off for our TOP 5 via live and silent auctions the entire time of the event.
What are the TOP 5?
They are a group of 5 different 501(c) 3 tax exempt organizations that benefit in 1 way or another our military, our military Veterans and their families. It is our goal each year to shine a light on these amazing organizations that sole purpose is to help our Veterans, when no one else will.
When it comes to our military and our Veterans, their seems to be more negative in the media than positive. Our Foundation and Exhibition seek to change that. We may not be able to help all our Veterans, however through our TOP 5 we will do our best to make sure we can help build a community of support and non-profits that together, we can!
Wellness 4 Warriors – Making a difference for Veterans!
Wellness 4 Warriors mission is to provide products which make a difference and improve the quality of life for Veterans.
We use cookies to analyze website traffic and optimize your website experience. By accepting our use of cookies, your data will be aggregated with all other user data.