For the past ten months I have explored the life of a deceased artist named Joseph Barley \"J.B.\" Childers. In the graduate catalog Gregory Volk summarizes Childers as, \"an alienated Korean War Veteran, who took up painting as a refuge from his troubles, and who also doesn't exist. Childers who is naturally right-handed, painted everything left-handed because of a war wound, and so Engelmann, who is left-handed, painted with his right hand, which is quite a limitation.\" Of course, there's more to the story than that and the writings that follow will explain many of my reasons for pursuing this project.
","abstract_html":"<p>For the past ten months I have explored the life of a deceased artist named Joseph Barley "J.B." Childers. In the graduate catalog Gregory Volk summarizes Childers as, "an alienated Korean War Veteran, who took up painting as a refuge from his troubles, and who also doesn't exist. Childers who is naturally right-handed, painted everything left-handed because of a war wound, and so Engelmann, who is left-handed, painted with his right hand, which is quite a limitation." Of course, there's more to the story than that and the writings that follow will explain many of my reasons for pursuing this project.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Engelmann, James Thomas"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Fine Arts","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Painting and Printmaking","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Dr. Peter Baldes"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2004,"date_issued":"2004-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2004-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:54:40Z","subjects":["childers","storytelling","narrative","painting","Art and Design","Arts and Humanities"],"languages":[],"rights":["© The Author"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/905"],"render_values":[{"text":"https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/905","href":"https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/905","code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://doi.org/10.25772/X5YJ-2H98","outbound_label":"DOI","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Dr. Peter Baldes"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Engelmann, James Thomas"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2014-07-09T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Painting and Printmaking"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Fine Arts"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["childers","storytelling","narrative","painting","Art and Design","Arts and Humanities"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["© The Author"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://doi.org/10.25772/X5YJ-2H98","https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/905"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["For the past ten months I have explored the life of a deceased artist named Joseph Barley \"J.B.\" Childers. In the graduate catalog Gregory Volk summarizes Childers as, \"an alienated Korean War Veteran, who took up painting as a refuge from his troubles, and who also doesn't exist. Childers who is naturally right-handed, painted everything left-handed because of a war wound, and so Engelmann, who is left-handed, painted with his right hand, which is quite a limitation.\" Of course, there's more to the story than that and the writings that follow will explain many of my reasons for pursuing this project.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Narrating Friendship: The reciprocal relationship between J.B. Childers and myself"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Dr. Peter Baldes"],"dc:creator":["Engelmann, James Thomas"],"dc:date.available":["2014-07-09T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["For the past ten months I have explored the life of a deceased artist named Joseph Barley \"J.B.\" Childers. In the graduate catalog Gregory Volk summarizes Childers as, \"an alienated Korean War Veteran, who took up painting as a refuge from his troubles, and who also doesn't exist. Childers who is naturally right-handed, painted everything left-handed because of a war wound, and so Engelmann, who is left-handed, painted with his right hand, which is quite a limitation.\" Of course, there's more to the story than that and the writings that follow will explain many of my reasons for pursuing this project.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://doi.org/10.25772/X5YJ-2H98","https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/905"],"dc:rights":["© The Author"],"dc:subject":["childers","storytelling","narrative","painting","Art and Design","Arts and Humanities"],"dc:title":["Narrating Friendship: The reciprocal relationship between J.B. Childers and myself"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Painting and Printmaking"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Fine Arts"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:54:40Z"}