The group of women listened carefully to their art teacher, lifting fresh damp brushes and putting watercolor paints to paper, expressing thoughts and feelings through strokes and swirls of color. Many couldn't wait to take their new skills home and try watercoloring with their children.
But all of the members of this class would have to wait until completing their sentences at the River City Correctional Facility in Camp Washington, which offers a diversionary program for non-violent felony offenders with substance abuse issues.
For 10 years now, Inside Outside, The Prison Project (ISOS) has engaged groups of River City inmates in eight-week sessions exploring visual, written and performing arts as an avenue to build interpersonal and life skills. Each session culminates with a performance for fellow inmates and the public. Shows mix hard truths, humor, music, movement and deeply personal revelations as inmates read poetry, act out dramas and talk about the artistic process. Fellow prisoners offer enthusiastic support -- whoops and shouts -- as they watch from perches outside their cells, while members of the public, stripped of cell phones and other accessories, enjoy the multi-media show.
"We know how important the arts are," says Jefferson James, the development administrator for ISOS and the artistic and executive director of the Contemporary Dance Theater. "ISOS makes it so much more immediately obvious."
James, who administrates ISOS through the CDT and coordinates the team of ISOS artist-teachers, brought the project to Cincinnati ten years ago. Since then, she has watched 13 performances that serve to narrow the gap between life inside and outside of prison.
"They work very hard," James says. "They want their art to be an accurate reflection of themselves."
Poem by the Women of Chrysalis Pod, December 2010:
"Of What Do We Make Our Homes"
Of brick. Of sheet metal. Of hope. Of disappointment.
Of tears. Of truth. Of lies and deceit. A wood burning stove.
A sister. A brother. Of pain. Of fire. Of siblings. Of both parents.
Of cardboard. Of broken dishes.
Of haylofts. Of bunk beds. Of blanket tents.
A forest can be a home.
A beach can be a home.
Laughter can be a home.
A teddy bear. A dog. A cat.
Of addiction. Of stress. Of shame. Of drugs to blame.
Of cats. Of chaos.
A music box. A few crayons. Of silence. Of sickness.
Of the dead. Of night. Of tenderness. Of leaving.
Clouds can be a home.
Nature can be a home.
A good meal can be a home.
I'll build my house of dreams.
I'll build my house of roses and grass.
I'll build my house with bare hands and hard work.
I'll build my house of love, of leaving, of trust, of silence, of my own kind.
By the Women of ISOS 2010, compiled by Carolyn Brookbank (After Jean Nordhaus)
Do Good:
• Donate. With no 14th session yet planned, the future of ISOS depends on financial support. Find out how you can donate via the Contemporary Dance Theater.
• Watch part of the 2009 ISOS women's performance online.
• Get connected. Join the CDT's mailing list, receive ISOS invitations, or contact James directly to find out more.
For Good News Editor: Elissa Yancey (Sonnenberg)
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