Working Art Program Using Prison Inmates Help To Create Affordable Art For Washington Schools

Thu., Sept. 12, 1996

Graham Vink Staff writer

Low-paid employees best known for making license plates are being offered the opportunity to work on more creative projects: artworks for Washington’s public schools.

Inmates at corrections facilities around the state, including the Washington State Penitentiary, are working on the projects intended to provide affordable works under Washington’s Art in Public Places Program.

The program, launched in 1974, earmarks for artwork one half of 1 percent of the cost of new or renovated state buildings and public schools. It is administered by the Washington State Arts Commission.

Traditionally, the minimum cost for a piece of original artwork commissioned through the program was $20,000, which made it too expensive for public schools. But paying artists to create original designs, then using prison inmates to produce up to a dozen copies, helps bring down the price.

The six original artworks now on display at the Spokane Convention Center were designed specifically to capture the attention of young minds. “We have already heard from some schools that are interested in buying them,” said Pablo Schugurensky, program manager for Art in Public Places, who was in Spokane last week supervising the installation of the display.

The artworks range from a “Pyramid of Knowledge,” a seating/ gathering installation in the shape of three enormous stacked books, to “Fun Mirrors,” a cabinet containing carnival-style distortion mirrors, which among other things helps children learn about optics.

Eastern Washington is represented with Ellensburg artist Dick Elliott’s “Chain of Life,” a wall piece composed of 1,336 industrial-grade reflectors in different colors.

The price to schools for each piece ranges from $4,000 to $17,000, according to Schugurensky.

He said the program also benefits the inmates who create the artworks in prison shops. They earn only minimal prison wage, but they receive training in different techniques, learn problem-solving skills and work with the artists. “Inmates have taken a great sense of ownership of the works they create,” Schugurensky said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 4 Color Photos

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Exhibit The works of LEAD - Limited Edition Artists’ Designs - are on display inside the Spokane Convention Center through Oct. 25. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday; free. For more information, call the Washington State Arts Commission at (360) 753-5894.

This sidebar appeared with the story: Exhibit The works of LEAD - Limited Edition Artists’ Designs - are on display inside the Spokane Convention Center through Oct. 25. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday; free. For more information, call the Washington State Arts Commission at (360) 753-5894.

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