|
"Art from Within" was
born at the Dominguez
State Jail when an
Italian offender
discovered the Windham
School Librarian was
also an artist. Paulo
Riccioni, who possessed
a degree in graphic arts
from the Institute of
Florence, brought his
drawings for critique to
Janice Hindes, artist
recently turned
librarian. Neither could
speak the language of
the other, so Spanish,
of which neither was
fluent, was the chosen
communication. "I really
don't know exactly what
I told him or what he
heard, but we began to
enjoy each others art
efforts," said Ms Hindes.
"It was through Riccioni
that I began to realize
just how much art talent
was incarcerated and
then began to wonder
why. My research has not
been thorough or
clinical, but it appears
that artistic types are
not always the best
students in traditional
school, and we know for
certain that failure in
school is a strong
contributing factor to
incarceration."
As understandings
developed, Hindes
decided to ask
permission to hold an
exhibition of the
offender's work in her
library, and since there
would be an exhibition,
why not a museum
containing each year's
winners, and if that why
not exhibitions off the
unit, and if that why
not an awards ceremony,
and if that why
not...... Artists are
not rational thinkers by
nature. Hindes gave her
motive for the art push,
"I just wanted the
offenders to have the
opportunity to be
recognized for the good
they could do and put
the emphasis on that
instead of the trouble
they have caused and
had." Luckily those
requests fell on
sympathetic ears. Warden
Harry Kinker helped with
inaugural difficulties
and each succeeding
warden has supported the
endeavor. Normally
difficult arrangements
dealing with long
standing policies were
handled to allow the
plan to proceed with one
exception. Due to the
charter of State Jails,
the offender's work
could not be offered for
sale. Surprisingly that
was a limiting factor as
to where the art could
be shown. Most galleries
need the percentage of
sales to fund their
enterprises and cannot
afford to take
exhibition only shows.
Two venues became annual
and staunch supporters,
The Coppini Academy of
Art and the Hill Country
Arts Foundation.
The competition began in
2000, and each year's
winner hangs in a place
of honor in the
Dominguez State Jail
Education Library. All
are the same size and
framed the same. Hindes
tell us, "I buy the
paper and the frame so
that each offender who
wishes to compete has an
equal opportunity. When
the panel of 5 judges
selects each year's
winners, it should be on
talent only and not how
much money an artist has
in their commissary
account to buy colored
pencils, watercolors,
multiple sheets of
paper, etc. This way
everyone is equal and
only their inspiration
and perspiration raises
them to the top. This
competition is
exceedingly difficult as
each offender gets only
one piece of paper.
There are no second
chances. Every erasure
shows. Yet each year
some astounding art work
always results."
The competition begins
each year in October
when paper is
distributed. By
Thanksgiving the
drawings are exhibited
in the school library.
Over the Holidays it is
moved to the Coppini
Academy Of Fine Arts in
San Antonio then comes
to the Hill Country Arts
Foundation in Ingram,
Texas from mid January
to February to be
returned to the
offenders by Valentine's
Day. Entering the
competition takes an
offender's mind off the
holidays a bit and gives
them something else to
think about. "I tell
them that even though
they cannot leave these
walls, they can send
their spirit and
messages out to walk
among the world,"
relates Hindes. |
