“Even in the Dark There’s Beauty” by Daniel Teribery, Acrylic, 2021
The Prison Creative Arts Project (PCAP) presents the 26th Annual Exhibition of Art by Michigan Prisoners, the largest exhibition in the world of its kind.
The free, public exhibition, which opens at 5 p.m. on March 22, highlights the work of 392 artists from 26 state correctional facilities in Michigan. It features 714 paintings, drawings, and three-dimensional works.
After almost two years of not being able to meet the artists in person, PCAP staff and volunteers had strong reactions to reconnecting with them. “There was no greater joy I experienced this year than visiting artists in prison. Despite everything, PCAP artists have persevered and they continue to create works of great ingenuity, nuance, thoughtfulness, and playfulness. I’m humbled by it,” PCAP Director Nora Krinitsky stated.
Art selection trips to each facility are at the heart of the exhibition because this is when powerful dialog happens between artists and volunteers. “I learned a great deal about what inspires their work, such as their family, passions outside of art, and the goals that they have set for themselves in the future,” MSW graduate Emily Cole shared as she reflected on her experience of meeting artists inside prisons for the first time.
The show features a diversity of both artists and artistic choices. Artists range in age from 18 to 80, men and women from across the state with diverse racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Most pieces are offered for sale, with proceeds going directly to the artists. Last year, almost half of the 823 pieces were sold, generating $28,945 in just two weeks. There is a broad array of artistic media and subject matter, including landscapes, portraits, prison scenes, and political statements.
“Many artists chose to respond visually to many of the same topics that currently dominate the news and public discourse, including emotional and thoughtful reflections on isolation and COVID-19, on the American political landscape, and personal perspectives on race and the Black Lives Matter movement,” curator Charlie Michaels observed.
Senior curator Janie Paul started the Annual Exhibition in 1996 with her husband and PCAP founder Buzz Alexander. Paul, a community-based artist and University of Michigan (U-M) professor emerita whose primary focus is the capacity of visual meaning-creation as a vehicle for social change, has been bringing art from prisons across the state to campus each year.
For the first show, Paul and Alexander traveled to 16 prisons in Michigan to collect art.
“We were just mind-blown by the work,” Paul said. “We discovered it was such an important event both for the artists inside and for the community because it brought us all together.”
The exhibition is on view at the Duderstadt Gallery, 2281 Bonisteel Blvd. on U-M’s North Campus March 22–April 5. Gallery hours are noon–6 p.m. Sunday and Monday; 10 a.m.–7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
The opening celebration program begins at 6:30 p.m. on March 22nd and features speakers from the University, the Michigan Department of Corrections, artists from previous exhibitions, and a performance by the U-M Out of the Blue choir.
The exhibition is supported by the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, U-M Residential College, U-M College of Literature, Science and the Arts, and Om of Medicine – Ann Arbor.
