Dream Project provides creative outlet for inmates
Step into the ART FIX Gallery in the Wooten-Garner House and you will find incredible, colorful, unique works of art on display.
There are drawings done in pen on vanilla paper, acrylic paintings on canvas, water colors and bright cartoons in color pencil. Each piece carries a message and many of them have the skill of a trained artist. But most of the artists are not trained professionals, most of them are sitting behind bars at the Baldwin State Prison.
The art exhibit is the Dream Project headed by the GCSU Department of Art and Music Therapy and features collaborative drawings and paintings from inmates and GCSU students. An explanation of the project is written on the wall above a small wooden table that holds a notebook where viewers are encouraged to leave comments.
The inmates and students exchanged partial drawings and paintings to be finished by the other artist. Everyone that participated also created an individual finished piece depicting personal goals, images from dreams, or something that they want to see varying from friends, family or the world. Some of the inmates wrote song lyrics that GCSU students wrote music and performed for them.
This exhibit began in May with a collaborating summer drawing class and ended in October in collaboration with Drawing I classes. But this is not the first collaboration.
“This project came about when Erin Jones was a student of mine in drawing and printmaking classes at GCSU,” said William Fisher, associate professor and interim chair of the GCSU Art Department. “After graduating with a concentration in music therapy, Erin became the activities therapist at Baldwin State Prison. She and I kept in touch and at one point began brainstorming on ways that certain inmates, who exhibited exceptional creativity, might find an outlet for their talent. Together she and I developed the Dream Project in 2005, a collaborative art action which is ongoing and continues to expand and transform.”
With help from associate professors of art Valerie Aranda and Roxanne Farrar and their art classes, the Dream Project continues its collaborations with the inmates. Ashley Morgan, sophomore music major, contributed to the project using her musical talents.
“The inmates wrote lyrics and I put it to music. It was a really great experience. I really enjoyed it,” Morgan said. “The hardest part for me is writing lyrics to a song, so, already having this part done, made it a lot easier. It was really neat to see the end product, and it actually being what the inmate wanted. He told me he wanted the style to be like Creed. It was hard fitting this style because it is so unique. But I was really excited when he said that is was better than he expected.”
When the project was completed the artists met each other to present their work.
“It was also really cool actually visiting Baldwin State Prison and seeing what the inmates were like. This was probably my favorite part,” Morgan said. “The guys there are just like anyone else, they have just made bad decisions in life. Prison isn’t what everyone thinks it is.”
A documentary of the Dream Project will be presented at the American Music Therapy Association’s National Conference on Nov. 18, in Louisville, Ky.
The exhibit will be on display at GCSU until Dec. 7.
“The artwork is amazing, it’s difficult to believe that these are not professionals but actual prisoners,” said Valerie Blum, a senior history major. “I think my favorite part is this quote painted on the wall from one of the participating inmates: ‘This project made me feel free mentally, I got away and all I needed was a pencil.’ This project is so unique; I think everyone did an incredible job.”
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Nov 16 2007. Filed under Features.
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