Artist Spotlight: Charles Finney
By Clare Walker, JAC Intern Charles Finney was raised in Macon, GA, surrounded by creative people of a variety of disciplines. From construction workers, musicians, and his dad’s cabinet making, to farmers and street hustlers, “growing up you had to be a jack of all trades.” As such, he has been creating from a young …
Guest Blog: Dorothy Maraglino – A New Approach To Crime Prevention
by Dorothy Maraglino A New Approach To Crime Prevention Since the dawn of civilization, society has struggled to keep law and order. Modern times herald “tough on crime” campaigns. Society increasingly locks away offenders and even kills them at an alarming rate. Once a prisoner is released, society limits anyone who has been convicted of …
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Guest Blog: Dorothy Maraglino – Homesick in Prison
by Dorothy Maraglino Homesick in Prison Every prisoner in this room is suffering from intense homesickness. Contact is essential for us to feel there is a life to go home to. Like these women, I have a family that I used to be a central part of. Now, there are days I wonder if I …
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Carole Alden: The Fish House
JAC recently spoke with Carole Alden, a visionary artist currently living in Utah where she is building a creative healing space for women survivors of violence and trauma. Born in Orleans, France, Carole grew up throughout the Western US. She first began her art practice working with clay and bronze, later moving to fiber. It …
Correctional: A Memoir by Ravi Shankar
“We ball. We bait bishops. We run money early and often. We tell comic stories, inflecting with machismo and swagger the hour when we might be cradling a loved one. We do push-ups in the dayroom and curl water bags for our biceps. We put apples and bread down our pants. We wait for our …
On Radical Acceptance, Chosen Family, + Collective Care: Reflections from JAC’s Summer Interns
by Hannah Teich, JAC Web Team Intern I first came across JAC last fall, on an aimless Google search for something like “prison + art.” At the time, I, like all of us, was home, feeling mostly restless and isolated, untethered from the everyday rhythms of normal non-pandemic life. For the past few months, I …
Hasbrook Galleries: Action and Reaction – Anatomy of the Carceral State
These days, statistics and numbers about mass incarceration proliferate. We know abuses happen inside prisons and jails across the United States on an inconceivably large scale. We read that the United States incarcerates a fourth of the world’s prison population. These numbers are mind-numbing and shocking, but their magnitude is difficult to comprehend; how well …
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Reflections on Art for a New Future: JAC National Convening 2021
Saturday, June 26. 9:00 PM EST. A round of Zoom applause lit up the screen as we celebrated Jail Guitar Doors’ Go Getta Chris and Blaccson’s encore performance for their session: Songs and Beats, an original performance piece created by system-impacted youth. Despite being virtual, there was an electric feeling in the air that zipped …
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Artist Spotlights
- Angelica Marie Soto
- Will Livingston
- Gary Harrell
- Spoon Jackson and SaraMarie Bottaro
- Cuong Mike Tran
- Chris Schulze
- Harold Johnson
- Charles Finney
- Lex
- SNAPP
- Troy Glover
- Brian Hindson
- Nhut Vo
- Daniel Martinez
- Derrick Grantley
- Reginald Dwayne Betts
- Jeremiah Murphy
- William Brown
- O.G. Blue
- David Green
- Kenny Collins
- Gary Farlow
- Chad Merrill
- Izuo-Ere Digifa
- Marcus Pettiford
- Kenneth Reams
- Jordan (Jordy) and Joshua (Josh) Earls
- John Zenc
- Cedar Annenkov
- Amber Daniel
Teaching Artist / Program Spotlights
- Kirk Charlton
- Rachel Wallis
- Brian Daldorph
- André de Quadros
- Rowan Renee
- Ann Bracken
- Zoe Boekbinder: Prison Music Project
- Nate Fish: Brick of Gold
- A.B.O. Comix
- Joel Bergner
- Gabriel Ross
- Judy Dworin
- Annie Buckley
- William Head on Stage (WHoS)
- Anderson Smith
- Elia Cadilla
- Sarah Dahnke and Sarah Pope
- Lori Pitts
- Matt Malyon
- Peggy Rambach
- Hakim Bellamy
JAC Community Blogs
- JAC’s 2022 Wrapped
- Day in the Life of a JAC Intern: Jesse’s Monday
- JAC’s 2021 Wrapped
- Steve Davis and Chad Merrill pARTner Project Collaboration
- Day in the Life of a JAC Intern: Joslyn’s Monday
- Community Voices Blog: Staff Art Picks
- JAC’s 2020 Wrapped
- I am From…
- Coronavirus in Prison
- Collaborative Imaginings: the work of Lori Lovely and Kelly Pringle
Guest Blogs
- Leo Cardez – Mr. Crew Cut: An Angel Among Monsters
- Obie Weathers – Pieces
- Dorothy Maraglino – Hours Into Being a Refugee Due to Covid
- Marcus Pettiford – Captivity Without Sunlight
- Conor Broderick – The Challenges of Pursuing Higher Education in Prison
- Dorothy Maraglino –Prison Society
- Dorothy Maraglino – A New Approach to Crime Prevention
- Dorothy Maraglino – Homesick in Prison
- Dorothy Maraglino – A Day in My Box
- Joshua Earls
- Naomi Rachel: The Amazing Nash News
- Chris Trigg
- Annie Buckley: Lines Drawn and Erased
- Annie Buckley: Final Projects
- Annie Buckley: Art and Healing
- Annie Buckley: Oasis in the Desert
- John Zenc: The Boy Who Only Wanted to be Loved
- Chris Trigg: Creativity
- Denise Shumway: The Ohio Prison Arts Connection (OPAC)
- Jameelah Lewis
- Chris Trigg: The Other America
- Ronald McKeithen
- Marcus Pettiford
- R. Zumar: The Becomings of a Master: Canyon Run
- R. Zumar: The Becomings of A Master: Abstract
- Chris Trigg on the state of the arts in federal prisons
- Janie Paul: What we can learn about isolation from prison artists
- R. Zumar: The Becomings of A Master: The Portrait Series #3
- Carole Alden and Arlene Tucker: A Message from Translation is Dialogue
- R. Zumar: The Becomings of A Master: The Portrait Studies #1
- Annabel Manning: My Block.
- Spoon Jackson: To My Big Sis, Judith Tannenbaum, from Spoon Jackson
- Jeremy Sobek: Beginnings
- Guy La”Tron” Banks, a.k.a Tronee Threat
- Mark Andreason: Who is Mark Andreason?
- R. Zumar: The Becomings of a Master, Part 3: Hiatus
- Jennifer E. Tinker: A guest’s reflections on the Iron Cages exhibition
- Michelle Repiso: Oculus: Of A Place Unseen
- R. Zumar: The Becomings of a Master, Part 2: Bohemia
- Treacy Ziegler: Kindness, boundaries, and the border patrol
- Matt Malyon: The Stories We Save May Include Our Own
- Dr. Kevin Shorner-Johnson: Building Musical Imaginations
- R. Zumar: The Becomings of a Master
- Danny Ashton: Not a Prison Artist
- Cynthia Garcia: Hillside High Art Students reach out to incarcerated artist with Artist Trading Cards and motivational messages
- Caitlin Hamilton: Kudos For Memoir About Teaching the Arts in a California Men’s Prison
- John Whitman: copyright empowerment for incarcerated people
- Treacy Ziegler: The Slippery Slope of Kindness
- Tomás: Becoming Whole: the Joy of Creation
- Peggy Rambach: “We, the Unbound”
- Rosie Worster: Remember Me
- Treacy Zeigler: Kindness as Hostage
- Mardie Swartz: As the End Comes (a tribute to Alice Walker)
- Treacy Ziegler: The Incarceration of Kindness – Installment 1
- Mary Cohen: Communities of Caring through Choral Singing: an update from the Oakdale Prison Choir
- Page Dukes: Making Meaning: a caged bird sings
- Treacy Ziegler: Crossing the Border: An artist’s experience of a super-maximum security prison
Events, Exhibitions, and Publications
- Sean White’s The River is a Lake
- The Book of Judith
- “Correctional: A Memoir” by Ravi Shankar
- Inside & Out Exhibition Spotlight: Karim Shuquem, Lesley Rae Burdick, and Edee Allynnah
- Inside & Out Exhibition Spotlight: Sandra Miller and Cherie Hacker
- Inside & Out Exhibition Spotlight: David Potwin, Aimee Wissman, and Mary Anna Pomonis
- White Snake Projects: Virtual Opera
- Inside & Out Exhibition Spotlight: Michelle Repiso and Treacy Ziegler
- Celebrating PCAP’s 25th Annual Exhibition
- Inside & Out Musical Launch: Spotlight on Artists BL Shirelle and King Moosa
- Kenneth Reams: Workshop and Art Auction
- Mural Arts Philadelphia’s “Rendering Justice” Exhibition: Spotlight on Featured Artist Michelle Daniel Jones
- “The BOX” Virtual Performance: A Play About Solitary Confinement by Sarah Shourd
- Book Launch – Words After Dark: A Lyrics, Lit & Liquor Anthology
- Upcoming Exhibition: “Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration”
- Upcoming “Art Of Innocence” Event
- Virtual Event 6/27: Refueling for Justice feat. “Art as Release” JAC Artist Panel!
- Workshop Spotlight: A Conversation From Death Row with Kenneth Reams
- The Prison Story Project
- Create + Connect Online Workshop Series!
- Just Art Initiative
- Celebrating a successful opening night…and a video launch!
- Please join us in DC to celebrate the opening of our first exhibition!
- REDEMPTION SONGS: A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF A COMMUNITY PRISON CHOIR – Book Release
- Conference Announcement: Reframing the Landscape of Justice
Announcements / Statements
- Introducing JAC’s New Logo
- Announcing JAC’s New Gallery of the Month Series
- JAC needs your support!
- Art Connects Us
- Announcing the launch of the JAC Community Survey!
- An important message from PAC’s manager — please read on!
Reflections from JAC’s Founding Director in Response to Anti-Asian Violence