Carol Newborg

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I have created large-scale installations using natural materials for several decades. The installations are often inspired by aspects of nature in their overall concept and through the use of hundreds of hand-made multiples, no two of which are identical.

Many installations of my paper mache and beeswax 'drops' have focused on some of the different forms water takes, from rain to waterfall to mist. Another series of wall-based installations used hundreds of small paper mache pieces based on pods, cocoons and other forms found in nature. My work creates the possibility of focusing on natural elements in a meditative way; this idea was fundamental to an earlier series of 'Sanctuary' installations.

I am also involved in art programs with incarcerated people in California prisons. After many years, I realized that prison art studios are another form of Sanctuary. Since 1983, I've worked with Arts-in-Corrections, which was perhaps the world's largest institutional art program. I currently work with the San Quentin Prison Arts Project (www.williamjamesassocation.org). I believe that art should be accessible to all, and that it can help people to create change in their lives, thereby helping all of us.

My newer works are mixed media wall-based installations. "Flying Souls" is a textile-based piece about my Jewish family history in the concentration camps. My newest work is Sentences", about the excessively long sentences served by many people in the American prison system. Each piece is for someone I know who is now free from prison. A metal grid represents the bars and cages of prison; and smaller teardrop-shaped wire forms are supported by the grid, with each form representing a year served by that person. All are wrapped in textiles and yarns and threads, signifying the work of healing and growth that each person went through.