Contributed by Rehabilitation Through The Arts
Ossining, NY, June 13 2018 – Images from Behind Prison Walls is an exhibit of more than 60 pieces of artwork from men and women incarcerated in five maximum and medium security prisons, including Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, the only maximum-security prison for women in New York State, that will be on display at the Ossining Public Library Art Gallery throughout the month of July.
All the artwork has been created by prisoner members of RTA – Rehabilitation Through The Arts, a non-profit organization operating in the prison system over twenty-two years. Because of their long-standing and positive relationship with NYS Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, RTA received approval to exhibit and sell the artwork.
A public Gallery Reception will be held in the Ossining Public Library Art Gallery on Saturday, July 14 from 3:00 to 5:00 pm and will feature refreshments and the opportunity to talk with formerly incarcerated RTA artists including Jeffrey Clemente and Amaury Bonilla.
Jeffrey Clemente, who was a member of RTA while serving seven years at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, said, “When I got involved with RTA it expanded my imaginative mind about art and took me to another creative space. It was like I was able to express myself in this creative environment without any judgment…art is really the platform that allowed me to express myself.”
Amaury Bonilla served 10 years at Sing Sing. About the Ossining exhibit, he comments, “Society only looks at people convicted of a crime as criminals and that’s all they know, when it’s not reality – prisoners are still human beings who have different talents and skills, and through this exhibit, visitors will gain awareness that we’re not just a number; we’re human beings able to express ourselves in numerous ways.”
RTA is partnering with the Ossining Public Library (OPL), the Ossining Arts Council (OAC) and the Sing Sing Prison Museum (SSPM) to make this important exhibit available to the public. These three Ossining-based nonprofits share RTA’s belief in the transformative power of the arts to change lives and build communities. By providing the space, expertise and historical context for the artwork, the OPL, OAC, and SSPM aim to enhance RTA’s work in telling the stories of incarcerated people and how they benefit through the healing power of art in all its forms.
Rehabilitation Through The Arts uses the creative arts of theatre, dance, visual art, creative writing, and music to transform lives. Its curriculum develops and expands critical life skills for the more than 200 incarcerated men and women they serve. Two evidenced-based and published studies have proven the arts curriculum RTA delivers is effective in changing discipline records and is a catalyst for learning. RTA prisoner members do not return to prison. While the national recidivism (return to prison) rate is more than 50%, RTA’s recidivism is less than 7%.
The Ossining Public Library (OPL) is located at 53 Croton Avenue. For more information visit www.ossininglibrary.org, or call 914-941-2416. For information on RTA, visit www.rta-arts.org, email to info@rta-arts.org or call 914-232-7566.
Contacts: Barbara Branagan-Mitchell 860-210-0149; Jackie Kunhardt 860-271-1694
About the Ossining Public Library
The Ossining Public Library is a School District Public Library chartered by the State of New York to serve all residents of the Ossining School District. As a member of the Westchester Library System, it also provides services to a larger community. The Ossining Public Library enriches, connects, and inspires our community. For more information, visit www.ossininglibrary.org.
About the Ossining Arts Council
The Ossining Arts Council (OAC) is a not-for-profit volunteer organization devoted to demonstrating that art, in all its forms, is an important, vital and affirming force—both in the life of a community and in the life of each individual it touches. OAC helpsits artist members and promotes their work through OAC hosted events, use of its physical Gallery Space in the OAC Steamer Firehouse, a dedicated artist profile and showcase through its Online Galleries and various other channels. OAC offers a social and creative hub, where like-minded people can meet, share ideas and foster new projects and collaborations. For more information, visit www.ossiningartscouncil.org.
About The Sing Sing Prison Museum
Sing Sing Correctional Facility is a working maximum-security prison where the theories and realities of criminal punishment and rehabilitation have played out for almost 200 years. It’s a place with many stories to tell from many sides. Housed just outside the prison walls, the new Sing Sing Prison Museum will unlock the history of this world-famous institution through exhibits, artifacts and experiences. At the same time, the museum aims to take center stage in the urgent national conversation about social justice and incarceration. In illuminating these issues, in telling these stories, Sing Sing Prison Museum will tell us much about ourselves. For more information, visit www.singsingprisonmuseum.org.
I all ways support Penitentiary Art since I grew up and worked in San Quentin ! However there seems to still be this bias against Correctional Officers ” PRISON GUARDS ” TURN KEYS ” We are perceived as all being Sadists , who are wanna be Cops but could not cut the Mustard ? All I ask is, that anyone reading this paragraph ? Just please google my book title Once Upon A Time At San Quentin ? An uncensored photographic Q documentary with text ! All photos were shot by my while on duty in San Quentin back in the 70’s ! I was terminated from state service for having done so !