Insider Art

I want to share one of my proudest accomplishments as an art teacher so far, working with inmates as a part of the Insider Art program, which is sponsored by the Indianapolis Art Center. Kat Toebes mentioned the program in conversation a few months back and I knew I had to be a part of it somehow so I asked her if I could help. Luckily she was in need of at least a couple of educators who could provide quality instruction to a small group of young men ages 16 and 17.

Jeff Jefferies has been involved with the program before it became one of the Art Center's community programs. He's been involved since the beginning. Jeff has developed a positive report with the inmates, but he lacks the ability to structure it educationally. That's where Kat, Ethan Culleton and I come into play. Together the four of us have developed lessons into a curriculum that is meant to:

• Inspire students to use their innate creativity in positive ways
• Foster empathy and cooperation through the creative process
• Build art skills, knowledge and visual literacy
• Provide a safe, positive opportunity for self-expression and formation of identity
• Encourage positive community impact and opportunities to give back through art 

http://indplsartcenter.org/outreach/artreach/insider-art/

I had to do a brief training session before I was permitted to enter. The presentation covered a range of important things to know and of course some things that might happen. I wasn't nervous about any violence happening towards me, because they always put a hulking officer in the classroom and Jeff is pretty large himself. When they talked about inmate con games, I started to wonder just how effective they might be. Aside from the training I received, all I knew going in was that some of these inmates are facing long sentences for commiting very serious crimes while others may be released before long. Jail is where they await sentencing so they are very much in a state of limbo. But these particular inmates are still just boys who need someone to remind them that their lives are still valuable. They just need an outlet, which will hopefully keep them out of trouble in the future.

Many of these youths who wind up in jail are victims of their circumstances. Sure it boils down to the poor life choices that they make, but when they grow up detached from their community in an enviornment with no one to encourage them to find a path to success, its no wonder they wind up in these situations. I find the overcrowded prisons and the disproportionate number of male African Americans being incarcerated to be shameful, and I factored this in as I came up with my lesson. Self portraits, set against a back drop of headlines from the Indianapolis Star newspaper. I simply told them to rip out headlines that contained words that struck them in a certain way. Then I showed them how to collage them onto a canvas board. They did these steps on the first day, then using gesso they prepared an area to draw on for the second visit one week later. On the second visit I began by doing a brief lesson about proportions and they drew their self portraits using a mirror.

I will say that walking in day one I was a little intimidated. I mean this is a jail, and I am going in to it voluntarily! Jail, for those who have never been in one, is about what you might expect. The walls are blank, the atmosphere is sterile. There's green metal bars and electronic gates buzzing loudly everywhere you go, and it smells like urine (I don't want to guess why). The inmates walked in single file, wearing their green jumpsuits. They plopped straight down with an attitude that reminded me of my days in middle school. Each one of them was taller than me, except for one who was more wide than he was tall. I swallowed my initial fear and just went straight into it. I didn't care to know and they did not have to share with me why they were in jail, but one spoke out with, "Tryin to get that money!" This made generated a laugh and actually helped to lighten the mood.

These guys weren't scary. I found them to polite and respectful and very pleasant to work with. They gave me an honest shot, which I appreciated. I enjoyed helping them hunt through the newspapers for pertinent words and phrases such as: Second chance, hopeful living and hard road ahead. Come to find out, they don't get to read the paper in jail. Can you believe that? I really enjoyed this project and I could tell that they did as well when they proudly presented their work in the chapel at the jail two weeks later. That was the moment when I realized that my dream of helping others has come true and I'm doing good work (see previous post). Two more sessions of Insider Art this year. I'll teach the same thing twice more, and go from there . . .

"Suspicious"

"Help Me"

"Money Man"

"Legend Boy"

"Role Model"

"The Warrior"