Known for: Wildlife, Botanics; painter, sculptor, illustrator, Vietnam artist, museum president, commercial artist
Joseph Fornelli was born in Chicago, Illinois on May 21, 1943. He graduated from Steinmetz High School in Chicago in 1961, and then attended the Art Institute of Chicago. He is a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War, who served as a United States Army Helicopter Crew Chief from 1965 to 1967.
His Vietnam artwork was done while in Vietnam, where he was able to capture his emotions and impressions which were rendered with the materials available in the field, such as C-ration coffee, map ink, teak wood, and spent .50 caliber brass shells. Upon returning to the United States he founded a group of veterans from that war who shared art as an escape.
