TIME: A TRAVELING SHOW OF OREGON PRISON ART
There are currently about 14,000 men and women incarcerated in Oregon State prisons. These men and women have been "given time", something most of us on the "outside" have in very short supply.
"TIME" - A Traveling Show of Oregon Prison Art, features works by seventeen of these men who have chosen to use that time to create extraordinary works of art which will be traveling around the State of Oregon in 2011. The show, which will be traveling to Newport, Salem, Corvallis, Reedsport, Ontario, and Pendleton, makes its debut right here in Bandon this month, with one show opening at the Bandon Public Library and another at the SAGE GALLERY in the Old Coast Guard Building on First Street. The public is invited to this remarkable exhibit of works which range from considerations of God and Evolution, the beauty of nature, life in prison, abstract design, to reflections on TIME itself.
"TIME" features new paintings and drawings by some of the men who exhibited last year at the Coos Art Museum, as well as images by men whose work has never been seen in this area. The exhibit at the SAGE will also include three-dimensional works acquired over the years by the Port of Bandon, which has a longtime working relationship with the inmates at Shutter Creek. While a few of the artists have had access to acrylic paints, gouache, or pastels, most have created these pieces in their cells using the simplest of means: pencils, colored pencils, and ball point pens.
Victoria Tierney, curator of the exhibit, will be on hand at the SAGE GALLERY during the entire month of February, Wednesdays through Sundays from noon to five p.m., to share her experiences finding and corresponding with the artists who are incarcerated at facilities all around the state. This state-wide show grew out of her previous prison art shows at the Southern Coos Hospital & Health Center in 2008, at the Coos Art Museum and Black Market Gourmet in 2009, and at Old City Hall in Coquille in 2010.
The "TIME" show is made possible by a grant from THE CELEBRATION FOUNDATION as well as by the support of the Bandon Library Friends and Foundation and the SAGE GALLERY.