10/17/05 Contact: Kyes Stevens, 334-844-8946 (stevemk@auburn.edu)
David Granger, 334/844-9999 (grangdm@auburn.edu)

ART ON THE INSIDE

AUBURN – The inmate students of the Alabama Prison Arts & Education Project will share their work with the public at two exhibitions this fall.

Featuring a sample of drawings, photographs and poems, “Art on the Inside” will open on Oct. 19 at the Alabama State Council on the Arts gallery in Montgomery and run through Nov. 23. The exhibit will then run from Dec. 9 to Jan. 8 at Gulf ArtSpace in Fairhope. There will be a formal opening for the Fairhope exhibit on Dec. 9 from 6 - 8 p.m.

Over the course of each class, students practice their writing, drawing and photography skills by doing a wide variety of assignments that include representations of pattern and perspective, portraits and uses of sound and imagery. One student said, “I want my art to do something besides stay in here. I want it to make a difference.”

The show at Gulf ArtSpace will be a fundraiser for the Alabama Prison Arts & Education Project, with students having donated their creative works in order to raise money for more educational opportunities. The art will be on sale at this show, with proceeds going to support classes for other inmates in Alabama prisons.

The Alabama Prison Arts & Education Project is housed in the Auburn University Center for the Arts & Humanities at Pebble Hill. APAEP sponsors classes in creative writing and visual arts at four facilities and supports library development at 12 facilities in Alabama.

For more information on “Art on the Inside” or the Alabama Prison Arts & Education Project, please e-mail Kyes Stevens at stevemk@auburn.edu.

Auburn University is a preeminent land-grant and comprehensive research institution with more than 23,000 students and 6,500 faculty and staff. Ranked among the top 50 public universities nationally, Auburn is Alabama’s largest educational institution, offering more than 230 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degree programs.

(Contributed by Kyes Stevens.)

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