Alcatraz Exhibit: Images from the Inside

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Date: March 29, 2024 — November 13, 2011
Categories: Exhibitions & Presentations

Join us for the unveiling of We Players final 2011 Alcatraz exhibit, “Images from Inside” on Saturday, August 27, 2011.  Collaborative Self Portrait, AIC 1987

This exhibit is the most comprehensive gathering of inmate-produced artwork in the Bay Area in many years!

We’re expecting a capacity audience; place your reservation now!

(Photo Credit: Artist Studio Self-Portrait Collaboration, Cyanotype print series. Art in Corrections, 1987.)
The National Park Service and We Players have invited the Prison Arts Project, which sponsors on-going art classes at San Quentin through the William James Association, to exhibit outstanding examples of its work in “Images from Inside.”  The exhibit will also include visual art from the former California Arts-in-Corrections program – now collected by UCLA Library’s Prison Arts Archiving Project and WJA.

The August 27th exhibition-opening event will include a panel discussion representing the largest gathering of minds in prison arts programming in the Bay Area in over a decade. Panelists include:
Larry Brewster, Professor, USF
Laurie Brooks, Executive Director, William James Association
Steve Emerick, former Arts-in-Corrections Artist/Facilitator; recipient of Dalai Lama’s Compassion Award
Patrick Maloney, San Quentin art teacher for 23 years
Katya McCulloch, San Quentin art teacher for 6 years
Carol Newborg, Exhibit Organizer for WJA, former AIC teacher
Panel moderated by: Patrick Gillespie, We Players Gallery Curator

Images on the Inside – Exhibition Information
The successful collaboration of the public and the inmate population is one of the foundations of Arts-in-Corrections, which existed from 1980-2010 in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. That model was started in 1977 by the initial Prison Arts Project, which used professional artists, writers, and performers as teachers and role models of discipline, skill and commitment to growth and hard work.

Participation in Arts-in-Corrections correlates to a lower recidivism rate, thus significantly reducing costs for the state and helping people to stay out of prison upon their release. A university study found that participants in the AIC program had a 27% lower recidivism rate than the general prison population. Ninety percent of inmates will return to life outside the prison walls, and arts and educational programming helps address the challenges of re-entry through public collaboration and creative growth. (click here for links to study)

This exhibition was curated by Carol Newborg of the William James Association and Patrick Gillespie, We Players Gallery Curator.

We Players on Alcatraz
In 2009, the National Park Service invited We Players to engage in a monumental collaboration on Alcatraz Island. This groundbreaking partnership has utilized site-specific performing arts, and local outreach and education programming to provoke critical thought and stimulate conversation on the Alcatraz themes of incarceration, isolation, justice and redemption. In culmination of this three-year residency, We Players has organized a series of art exhibits for a gallery in the Alcatraz Cell House. Images on the Inside is the final exhibit in the 2011 series.
Images on the Inside Opening Event
Saturday, August 27th, 2011
1pm – 4:30pm

Artwork unveiling and panel discussion on inmate-produced artwork.
Images from the Inside will be on display in the Alcatraz Cell House Gallery, August 27 – November 13.

Reservations for August 27th are free. The invited donation is $20-30.  All donations will support We Players’ performance residency on Alcatraz.  WE thank you for your contribution!