There
is a feeding of the soul of our being through beauty, and
beauty is never absent if we can see it. - Jack Kornfield
For the second year, Alberta
Corrections has partnered with the Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts, in
Edmonton to host an art show of selected artwork from inmates in Correctional
Centres across Alberta. The Artist Inside – Removing Barriers
Through Art was held in the Stollery Gallery from October 15 to October 30, 2015. Both years, I have organized and co-ordinated
the art submissions being sent from the Calgary Remand Centre.
For years, I have appreciated the beauty of the art inside the remand centre. I hadn’t fully realized what was involved
in producing a finished piece of artwork until last year, when I incorporated doing
artwork in one of my life management courses.
None of the artists had participated in a jury show or had their work
shown in a gallery. I could assist them
with considering and preparing to submit their artwork. As an instructor, I could connect learning
with real life situations. I hadn’t
anticipated all that I was going to learn as well.
Art inside jails
Like a rose that grows in
concrete, we can see beauty in artwork of inmates inside our correctional facilities. In our classrooms, art personalizes notebooks,
decorates assignments, and beautifies walls.
Art sits on window ledges and hangs on walls of cells. Art extends down the arms of both inmates
and officers.
When asked what kind of art
they do, some spoke of jail art and flash art and tattooing when they are
outside. They described jail art as the
flowers, banners, crosses and calligraphy that is sent home or kept in cells to
connect them with the ones they love. Jail art can also be skulls, dragons, and
epic battles of superheroes and villains.
For some in jail, doing art
is recreational, a way of passing the time when they are locked up. They are rewarded by the recognition and
appreciation of others. They stay within the conventional subject matter and
parameters.
However, for others, doing
art is about learning, growing, gaining in confidence and having a voice. They experiment, trying new things. These artists are versatile as they can do the
conventional jail art that other inmates ask of them. They can also do more. Their traditional aboriginal artwork, landscapes,
portraits, and animals could – and do - hang on walls outside the world of
crime, courts, and harms done.
For the last year’s show, Dick
Averns, an artist and ACAD instructor, had provided a jury process to select
the pieces to submit to Edmonton. Averns
helped me look at their artwork in a new way.
A bear, mouth open in a roar, can suggest having a voice. Portraits can portray the emotions of the
subject and evoke an emotional response in us.
Symbols of healing and tradition can be seen in Aboriginal art. Landscapes can suggest freedom and invite us
to consider place. Animals can take us
into the wild and remind us of beauty and the laws of nature. The artists of these works invite us to
engage with their work through our thoughts and reactions.
If there is no hobby program
or no canteen money, art in correctional centres is often done simply with
photocopy paper, a regular HB pencil, and, if one is fortunate, a medium black
pen. The artists create beautiful work
with the most basic of materials. Last year our starting point was to provide
the artists with quality art supplies that could be used in the classroom.
Supporting our artists
Given good quality supplies,
the artists talk about the weight of the paper and how it takes colour. They get thin lines with fine pens. With an assortment of pencil leads, they can
use light strokes with the hard lead to delicately begin a piece or use the softer
leads and smudgers to shape the work.
Sharp pencils are needed for the fine detail work and, yet, it can be
difficult to get those pencils sharpened with limited access to sharpeners. They use paper on walls or windows to get a
fine point.
Some appreciated the
opportunity to use materials they had used outside while others experimented
and learned how to use the new materials.
Since then, we have found quality art supplies that pass security regulations
and made them available to artists in
our centre.
Art involves the attention
and observation of real life. As our
buildings are designed for their function, windows can be small with limited views. We are fortunate to be on the edge of Calgary
so we can see magnificent skies, birds, and the occasional wild creature. However, to work more fully with life outside
the walls, we provided and continue to provide photo books, magazines, pictures
of people, animals, and buildings as well as calligraphy styles.
The artists were all
self-taught. They asked questions,
shared ideas, and learned from each other. They encouraged one another. We provided art books which illustrated
techniques and art basics.
Facing challenges
Artists on the inside face unique
challenges to complete work. Some
cellmates get transferred taking the artist’s supplies – or work - with
them. Angry cellmates can wreck their
work. Art paper and even finished
artwork can get ruined during routine cell searches.
Sharon Salzberg, a
meditation teacher, encourages beginning meditators to recognize when the mind
takes over in meditation but not to dwell on that in practice. She says you begin again. So if the work is lost or ruined, it is
simply time to begin again.
Other challenges are more
internal. It can be hard to focus on
artwork when court dates draw close, cellmates are hard to get along with, or
there are problems at home.
In the DVD, “Finding Motivation”,
Damon Barryman talks to people in treatment centres about doing the hard work
of making changes at a time when they can be most lacking of inner resources. When we see the beauty of the work, it can be
hard for us to realize what is going on inside artists. Artists, who are willing to show their work,
may face vulnerability,
lack of acceptance, risk of rejection, and competition.
There is risk to
having work presented in public and it takes courage to do so. However, when artists take that risk, they have an opportunity
to express themselves and to learn more about themselves as individuals and as
artists.
Celebrating community
An integral part of our
course was to create a safe space to work and to build a community of artists. To celebrate the community of artists and the
work that was done in our centre, last year we held a one-day art show,
featuring the artists and their art. Averns
came to the remand centre and spoke with the artists about their work and
conceptual ideas, answered questions, and encouraged them to continue drawing. The artists and staff were impressed when
they saw all the work hung on the wall.
They commented on the quality of the work and their favourite
pieces.
We have continued to display
artwork and it encourages others who would like to have their work displayed.
Life lessons
One of our artists only began
drawing again a few years ago, having not done it since he was a kid. At that time, another inmate told him, “As
you are drawing, there are no mistakes.
Work with it and keep going.”
Deltonia Cook is an inmate
who appeared in the DVD, ”Healing River”. In the DVD, he says, “One of the things I
would like, and a lot of prisoners would like, to do is make things right and
make society on the whole safer. Can
this society and the systems create space for us to participate and, I guess
you could say, redeem ourselves?”
Creating art is like
creating our lives. Create space, begin
again, work with it, and keep going.
Resources
Healing
River, DVD, Heartspeak Productions (Deltonia Cook)
Poetics
of Peace, Vital Voices in Troubled Times, CD, Mosaic Multicultural Foundation
(Jack Kornfield)
Finding
Motivation, Surviving Recovery Series, DVD FMS Productions (Damon Barryman)
Guided
Meditations for Love and Wisdom, CD Sounds True (Sharon Salzberg)
Creating,
Robert Fritz, Ballantine Books, 1991
No comments:
Post a Comment
We love comments. Why else would be post? Let us know what you like. Add your own thoughts. And if comments are not enough, send us a post.