"Presence" in Prison
Artists S. Brooke Anderson and Jay Samwald Share Art with Inmates
Guest contribution by Norman Walker
With a gift of art supplies from Opus Framing & Art Supplies, painter S. Brooke Anderson and video maker Jay Samwald conducted art workshops in the women's maximum security wing of the Fraser Valley Institution this past summer. Anderson led inmates through a landscape mural painting project while Samwald directed inmates through the process of shooting video of the painting project.
After attending a talk from Prison Fellowship director, Rev. Ellie Clitheroe, Anderson felt compelled to offer an art mentoring workshop for inmates. She was then invited by the prison Chaplain, Rev. Wendy Murchie, to the Fraser Valley Institution. Anderson, Samwald, and Diane Ledingham, transformed a cinderblock wall into an inspirational perspective of wide open spaces and soft light. The 12" x 8" mural is featured in the non-denominational spirituality room in the woman's prison. The room serves inmates and their families as a zone of meditation, contemplation, prayer and spiritual practices. Anderson's mural "Presence" is from a series of large scale acrylic landscapes which celebrate the transitional interplay between light, land, and atmosphere.
In order to create the seamless sfumato technique of the series, the cinderblock wall had to be treated with eighteen coats of plaster until a smooth surface was achieved. Once the wall was dried and sanded smooth, Anderson shared her methods with inmate volunteers. One woman had told her before the sessions began that "art and drawing had saved her life". Samwald showed the participants how to shoot video, and the entire process was documented with the inmates operating the camera. The resulting video "Presence in Prison" can be seen on YouTube at http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=Vh4l1pg4HO8. Diane Ledingham assisted Anderson through the preparation, painting and final wrap up of the project.
"Engaging in the act of creation during painting allows us to connect with our innermost feelings", noted Anderson, "as well as to connect to something outside of ourselves.". "The transformative power of art is what I wanted to suggest to these women". "Beyond our world of hard edges is a space of the imaginary that can be inspirational and comforting", Samwald adds, "by putting the tools of video story telling into peoples' hands, I hope to demystify some of the processes of communication – this is an era where anybody and everybody can tell their story through video."
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