Art exhibit features work by youth in correctional facility

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) - A student exhibit opened recently at the Manitou Art Center, but none of the artists were allowed to attend.

The adolescents who created the artwork are locked up in what amounts to juvenile jail. They are awaiting court hearings involving criminal cases or have been found guilty of committing felonies and misdemeanors.

That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have a voice, said Natalie Johnson, executive director of the Manitou Art Center and creator of the show.

“It’s often difficult to find positive things they’ve done, and this is a nice thing to offer everybody,” she said.

What some of the students endured to produce their pieces speaks of their need for self-expression and desire to tell their stories through art.

“They’ll go through a lot of obstacles to do artwork,” said Charlie Graybill, the art instructor at Spring Creek Youth Services Center in Colorado Springs.

The state-run center houses up to 80 male and female juvenile offenders ranging from 10 to 21 years old. All must attend school. Harrison School District 2 provided teachers and staff this past school year, with art class offered for one hour a day. Johnson got the idea of hosting a student art show last year as a Leadership Pikes Peak participant. The organization offers civic leadership training and development programs, and her group toured Spring Creek.

Johnson said she found that the youth “were almost all artists to some degree,” when they were talking about their visions.

“I thought we could give them one thing to put on their resume,” she said, “and let them know that they’re not alone, that not everyone’s against them, whether they know them or not.”

Of the 54 youth detained or committed at Spring Creek this past spring, 50 completed drawings. Of those, 34 entries were accepted for the show.

Johnson said some were rejected because they attempted to convey gang messages.

In addition to content being restricted, students were limited in terms of materials, Johnson said. They could not use anything that could be turned into a weapon or that contained a chemical that could be abused.

That made it “hard for the kids to demonstrate what they’re capable of,” she said.

Some students were even more constrained. Three of the students whose work is included in the show were in wrist-to-waist restraints, Graybill said, with handcuffs attached to belt loops to prevent their arms from moving.

For the first few days, they worked on the project in the restraints. But after Graybill appealed to Division of Youth Corrections, which oversees security, those students were allowed to remove one arm from the handcuffs to work on their entries. Security guards monitored their actions individually.

“They had to go through a lot of obstacles to get their messages out there,” Graybill said.

Simple to elaborate drawings, in colored pencil, pen, marker and a few using charcoal or chalk, line the Great Hall at the Manitou Art Center. All reflect the theme, “Past, Present and Future.” Graybill thought of the theme and presented it to students for a vote.

“I told them they could make it specific to themselves or just have an element (of their own life),” she said.

Despair shows in images of handcuffs, skulls and black clouds. But most depict some hope in the form of rainbows, sunbeams and pretty landscaping.

“I see the hope reflected in the work,” Johnson said. “I can tell they did take the time and they put thought into it. Each of these kids has a lot on their plates, so they didn’t need to do that, but they wanted to.”

Only students’ first names are used in the credits to protect their privacy. Some have an explanation of the artwork. Korina titled hers “Hodgepodge,” with snapshots of handcuffs, a clock, a stack of money and a cigarette.

Dylan’s is “The Reverse of Death and Life,” featuring a face that emerges from a depiction of a peacock feather. Dylan wrote, “Past represents the worst part of my life. Present is the feathers showing happiness found within. Future is the bright colors of a new beginning.”

From Caleb comes “Chaos and Order,” with the chaos being “how hectic and scrambled my life was,” and “the ordered side is my life now.”

For Jorian, the past is being on a sailboat, the present is “looking at the sunset from my cell,” and the future is “being in the stars.” Another student, Angel, drew a skull with clocks for eyes in a piece titled “Time.”

“They’re so proud of themselves, and I’m really proud of them,” Graybill said.

“I had no idea they had this talent.”

Johnson said many exhibit-goers have been emotionally moved after viewing the pieces.

“We tend to look at these kids as monsters or having something wrong with them, but in many ways they are regular teenagers who screwed up somehow,” she said. “I can relate to that.”

Graybill videotaped the exhibit so the student artists at Spring Creek can see it, and she’s hoping to bring students who are working on transitioning to living outside the center to see the exhibit in person.

“In the comments I’ve heard, reactions have been both ways, some have liked seeing the dreams, and some are amazed in some of the stories the kids have,” she said.

The exhibit runs through July 12 at the Manitou Art Center, 515 Manitou Ave., in Manitou Springs.

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Information from: The Gazette, https://www.gazette.com