Join us Saturday, August 10th from 11am – 1pm for a lively panel discussion with JUST ARTISTS: Henry Frank, Nicola Bucci, Gary Harrell, Isiah Daniels, Felix Lucero, Katya McCulloch, Beth Thielen, and Art Hazelwood. Prints from the WJA Prison Arts Steamroller Project are featured in “Taking Liberties,” exhibition at the Richmond Art Center, thru August 17th, 2024,
In 2023, a handful of WJA alumni and teaching artists from the San Quentin Prison Arts Project formed JUST ARTISTS. The group was formed in an effort to help provide opportunities for artists coming out of the California carceral system to collaborate in making art while forming a supportive community of artists.
Many members of JUST ARTISTS met in 2008 when the opportunity to participate in a steamroller print project was presented to incarcerated artists in San Quentin. Since then, most of the artists have been released from prison and, in 2023, gathered to form JUST ARTISTS and create a new iteration of the steamroller printing project.
Throughout the later part of 2023, JUST ARTISTS regularly connected to plan, create, and present the “Taking Liberties” series of artwork. The theme of the project was, “The Horrors and Humanities of Incarceration,” which was reflected in linoleum cuts that returning resident artists and their previous teachers collaborated on as peers. On March 26, 2024 at Diablo Valley College, the linoleum cuts were used to create large scale prints using a steamroller.
Artist Henry Frank said, “Art Hazelwood’s studio in Richmond became an oasis from everyday responsibilities, challenges, and stressors, just like the sanctuary of Arts in Corrections studio in San Quentin. While in these studios, we focused on the art, the process, our fellow artists, and their lives. As art was being created, we were giving and receiving support for each other with the challenges and celebrations in each other’s lives. Just like the studio in San Quentin, art was the reason for gathering, but community, compassion, and vulnerability encouraged us to stay.”
