Metro Panthers - Bringing Art to Jail

This project was in collaboration with The Bubbler’s Making Justice Program. I appreciate your support!

The Metro Panthers Project continued, and this time we worked together in person. I created the design with their ideas in mind after our online meeting of what they would like to see the panther image reflect. They had a completely different take on the background and colors than the other two facilities, wanting a night time jungle theme with blue and shadows in the foreground. After seeing the design complete, one of the residents said “It’s like she was looking into my mind! That’s exactly what I pictured.”

The process involved bringing supplies to the Dane County Sheriff’s Building where the young men reside. There they learned skills in painting and together we completed an image that now hangs proudly in their classroom. I never know what to expect and am to a point of not expecting anything, always leaving me surprised by these interactions and what I learn about people, systems, myself, and the power of art.

After the response from everyone involved and seeing the image complete, I was asked to return to the Sheriff’s Building for another project. This time working with men in Parenting Inside Out, a class built for people in jail to connect with their children on the outside.