Upcoming Exhibitions:

Dreamscapes: Imagination Knows No Bounds October 6 – November, 2023

Current Exhibitions:

Reflections: August 17 – September 21, 2023

Justice Arts Coalition (JAC) and Take 2: A Resonance Cafe present Reflections, an exhibition featuring the work of women and non-binary artists previously and currently confined to carceral institutions across the United States. Reflections launches with an opening reception on August 17 at Take 2 and runs through September 21, 2023. 

Located in Tulsa, OK and operated by the Resonance Center for Women, Take 2 Cafe offers women recently released from prison with a stable working environment, community, and the support they need in order to thrive as they reintegrate into the free public. JAC is a national organization that unites system-impacted artists and their allies to harness the transformative and liberatory power of the arts to reimagine justice. JAC’s work stems from the premise that art serves as a connective tissue, weaving its way back and forth through prison walls to foster and strengthen relationships, reminding us of our shared humanity and common struggles, and that everyone has a unique story to tell. Reflections offers an opportunity to witness the challenges and triumphs experienced by women affected by incarceration and to build pathways that reach across prison walls. 

Reflections opens on August 17, 2023. There will be a reception from 5:30 to 7:30 pm featuring artist talks and opportunities to respond directly to the artists through letter writing. 

Justice Arts Coalition (JAC) + Take 2: A Resonance Cafe Opening Reception and Art Exhibition | Thursday, August 17
Take 2: A Resonance Cafe – Tulsa
309 South Main Street
Tulsa, Oklahoma 74103 | RSVP here

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Creativity is My Freedom: August 11th – December 2023

 Greg Bolden, “Pardon”

Justice Arts Coalition (JAC) is launching a partner exhibition with Busboys & Poets, a restaurant, bar, bookstore and community gathering place now located in nine distinctive neighborhoods in the Washington D.C Metropolitan and Baltimore areas. The exhibition, titled Creativity is My Freedom, features the work of artists in JAC’s network and aims to demonstrate the numerous ways that creative practice allows us to transcend environment, thought, and mundanity to instead enter realms of imaginative freedom. The exhibition will launch with an opening reception at the Takoma Park, MD location of Busboys & Poets on August 11th, 2023 from 6:00-8:00pm, and run through December 2023. 

Upcoming Exhibitions:

Dreamscapes

Justice Arts Coalition and Chimera Cafe present: Dreamscapes

 Justice Arts Coalition (JAC) is pleased to announce Dreamscapes, an exhibition of works by members of JAC’s national network of currently and previously incarcerated artists. Our exhibition host is Chimera, is a cafe and event space in Tulsa. Dreamscapes will launch on October 6, 2023, and run through the end of November. The exhibition will offer viewers an opportunity to enter the imaginations of JAC network artists and to celebrate the fantastical and surreal landscapes that are conjured within. We are inspired by the words of poet and philosopher John O’Donohue, who says, 

…as we are speaking, there are individuals holding out on frontlines, holding the humane tissue alive in areas of ultimate barbarity, where things are visible that the human eye should never see, and they’re able to sustain it because there is in them some kind of sense of beauty.

For most of the artists in JAC’s network, daily life plays out almost entirely in the same concrete space. Still, astonishing beauty can be found through their art, coming from a vibrant source within them that refuses to be extinguished. Whether they are inspired by magazine clippings, old memories, or simply the calling of their internal world, these artists summon splendor and possibility despite their surroundings, transfiguring scraps and solitude into visions of majesty. 

Each alluring piece in Dreamscapes underscores how art can serve as a form of liberation for people in prison, enabling them to escape the confines of their environments and express themselves through vivid, otherworldly imagery. We hope that through this exhibition, visitors deepen their appreciation of the persistence of imagination, and find ways to transport beyond the expected and summon sources of grandeur wherever they may find themselves. 

Join JAC and our partners from the Oklahoma Prison Writers and Artists Foundation for the Dreamscapes opening reception on Friday, October 6 from 6:00 – 8:00pm. There will be readings from Emergence, an anthology of writings by members of the Writer’s Guild at Joseph Harp Correctional Center, musical performances by local bands Acid Queen and Hey Judy, and opportunities to hear from some of the exhibiting artists. This First Friday Art Crawl event is open to all, but there will be a suggested donation of $15 to enter Chimera’s performance space. 

Chimera is located at 212 N. Main St in Tulsa, and its regular business hours are Sunday – Wednesday 7:00am – 4:00pm and Thursday – Saturday 7:00am – 10:00pm.  For more information please contact Justice Arts Coalition Executive Director, Wendy Jason, at wendy@thejusticeartscoalition.org.

Dreamscapes Opening Reception | Friday, August 11
Chimera Cafe – Tulsa
212 N. Main St
Tulsa, Oklahoma 74103 | RSVP information coming soon

Past Exhibitions:

Reflections from the Inside

Visit our new HQ at 7112 Willow Ave, Takoma Park, MD to view works by participants in CorrespondARTS, our multi-disciplinary arts distance learning program. While providing incarcerated artists with an opportunity for creative expression during a period of unprecedented isolation and uncertainty, the CorrespondARTs program guides participants through a variety of themes, such as community, trust, and respect, which shape the art they produce each week. The range of styles, mediums, and voices artists use in addressing these themes is what makes Reflections from the Inside particularly unique. This exhibition will be on display through April 1, 2023. View an anthology of works by CorrespondARTS participants here. Works by JAC network artists from across the country are also on display throughout the building. Email ava@thejusticeartscoalition.org to schedule a visit.