Frank Erpelding-Chacon has been creating art for as long as he can remember. As a boy of only 5 or 6, he learned to sand and carve while helping his great-uncles who were furniture makers in Las Cruces.

"They would tell me 'This is what you do. This is what you clean up.' You get better, you do more, and then you get a project to do," he said. "My first project was building a little chair. My grandmother kept that chair and it's still in the family."

He never thought, however, that art would become such a significant part of his life today, as a 60-year-old Vietnam veteran. His leatherwork, silverwork, woodwork, painting and colcha (traditional embroidery) have all been vital as art has woven in and out of Erpelding-Chacon's life. They have become significant enough that not only are they displayed in Santa Fe's Spanish Market but, for the second year, have won a gold medal in a national competition for veteran artists. Erpelding-Chacon will attend the 2010 National Veterans Creative Arts Festival Oct. 18-24 in La Crosse, Wis., where the piece will be displayed along with other gold-medal winners.

The competition is part of a program run by the New Mexico Veteran's Affairs Health Care Facility and other facilities like it nationwide. Here, all veterans enrolled are given a chance to compete at a local level and winners advance to the national level. The program has become a large part of Erpelding-Chacon's life, and he was one of the first artists enrolled.

"I spent a lot of time at the VA hospital. They asked if I'd like to join and I said 'OK.' They gave me a model and I'd build it," he said. "At first it was only (a few) people, I don't even know everybody now."

Erpelding-Chacon said, "The expectation (at other places) is high. You win something and now you have to meet that or exceed that. At the VA, there are no expectations. You did your best, and maybe it wasn't as good as when you weren't shaking so much ... or taking medicine. As my health deteriorated slowly, it was OK with the VA."

Nonetheless, it still seems that despite all things, Erpelding-Chacon's pieces are meeting or far exceeding expectations.

"You make your art and they give you a little ... ribbon and say you're good. You say 'Yeah, yeah, yeah.' And then they give you a bigger ribbon with a medal on the end. Then somebody calls and says you won nationally. I don't know how to digest it. It's not in my everyday world that this happens."

The winning piece was a sculpture titled Captain Kidd, a piece Erpelding-Chacon describes as "a little pirate ship."

"I painted the sailors and the captain. Sometimes my hands would shake, and I'd have to paint and repaint," Erpelding-Chacon explained, noting that his diabetes often had an effect on his art.

Erpelding-Chacon had reason behind putting all this effort into what was originally a simple model ship. The stories behind the art made at the VA Health Care Facility, after all, are not simple works, explained the artist, but were each made by someone with a story. The fact that war veterans created them is important, Erpelding-Chacon remembered, as he told the stories of everyone from Vietnam veterans to more recent Iraq veterans.

"I was a combat corpsman in with Marines. They all had stories, and I didn't want to hear all their stories," Erpelding-Chacon explained. "But you listen and you make them feel better ... because they're there for you. And this program's there for you ... you help out the guy next to you. When you get frustrated, someone helps you. We've all been at the same point at some time."

Much like there is more than meets the eye at this facility, there is always more to the piece of art.

"It was historically accurate," said Erpelding-Chacon. "You could just stick it together. Or you could take it to another level and paint it. Or you could ... paint it historically correct. Or you could ... paint details on the people. The model kit no longer becomes a model. All models are just a skeleton. It's about where you take it from there."

The artist, because of this accomplishment, will visit Wisconsin in October where he will learn more about art, especially making baskets, which he is particularly excited about.

Still, he acknowledges none of this would be possible without the support of those who loved him through art and war. He especially is grateful for his wife, Mary Erpelding-Chacon, and his late grandmother (Tomi Muñoz-Chacon) who both had a love for Erpelding-Chacon which never wavered.

"It's always hard ... to understand a vet. Sometimes things go on inside our head that are hard to understand. But (my wife) always supported me.

"I'd like people to see beyond the skeleton. You see, this is just a model. Where does it take you? It took me to baskets, because it's taking me to Wisconsin. I'm good for a year," he said with excitement in his voice. "It gives you something to look forward to. That's what that little pirate ship did. I feel blessed — I feel really blessed."

Rebecca Gonzales is a 2010 Capital High graduate. You can reach her at nellybly22@gmail.com.