Columbia river Correctional institution

Columbia river correctional institution

The Art and Social Practice Program at Portland State University has collaborated for four plus years to do work at a local minimum security prison in NE Portland called Columbia River Correctional Institution. For the past three years I’ve been collaborating with that group, and managing projects and relationships on my own. Both are hard to pin down where exactly the project starts and finishes, what exactly I’m responsible for, and how exactly should the work be claimed. I’ve been grappling with the framing of the work I do there and with folks once they’re out for years. However, I have a few projects in the works that can be explored below.

Gallery Blue

Gallery Blue is a curatorial project founded by Michael and Blue that currently consists of 17 reclaimed wood frames and a permanent collection of work on display at the DCJ East Parole Office. It exclusively features the work of currently and formerly incarcerated individuals. Gallery Blue’s curatorial mission is to select artists and place them within the context of our space to create thought provoking exhibitions for the clients, staff, and guests of the DCJ East office. The curators work to develop the context for the exhibitions by including thematic, conceptual, and formal layers through which to understand the pieces included in the gallery.

Columbia River Creative Initiatives

Columbia River Creative Initiatives, directed by Spencer Byrne-Seres, is the umbrella project that the Art and Social Practice program collaborates to offer programming inside the prison, with various ancillary projects and exhibitions that take place outside the prison. Currently I am a semi-prominent character for the folks inside prison, and have been relatively consistent in my attendance of class for the past 3 years. Currently Spencer and I are pursuing funding to facilitate a symposium on prison reform at Columbia Rive Correctional Institution facilitated by currently incarcerated folks at the prison.

Spending Time With Blue

In the early phases of my work at CRCI I met a dear friend named Blue. When Blue got out of prison we met soon after and he had a bag of clothes for me as he noticed much of my clothing items had holes. We continued to spend lots of time together as friends and would bat around the question “What kind of project do you really want to work on with me?” After a while it seemed like most of our time was spent informally, and I proposed that our project be spending time doing anything Blue wanted to do, as long as I could document our time together. He agreed and now I have a large collection of images of us eating food together.

Since the origin we’e done lots of things together including extensive discussion about depression and the struggles of life, drawing, eating, we searched for and bought a car together, I fund raised $350 to compensate him for unjust implementation of a lie detector test, and currently we’re finalists for a $50,000 mural project. Wish us luck!

Tin Can Phone

Tin Can Phone is a project done in collaboration with Armon Poostpasand, Queaz Otti, and Joseph Rosenburger. The project began as a collaboration between Armon and myself where Armon was interviewing fellow incarcerated folks. When Joe and Queaz were interviewed they became enamored and excited about the project’s potential. Armon and Queaz are now outside prison and are working with me to edit and record intro’s for the content as KBOO artists in residence. The project is still in the pre/postproduction phase, however before too long you’ll be able to find us on KBOO Community Radio!

CRCI Drawings

When I first started working at CRCI I witnessed something really amazing and my first thought was to pull out my cellphone and take a photo of it. I quickly realized that I didn’t have my phone and that my only way to record the event was to make a drawing. Since I’ve been working at CRCI I’ve done a number of drawings that serve to document my experience there. Soon I will scan these drawings and make them available. And, eventually they will be used in a book of essays about working with folks in an incarcerated context. More coming soon!