The Oglethorpe University Museum of Art will once again welcome “HeartBound Ministries: Art from the Inside” to its Rubin Gallery. The exhibition features more than 40 works — including paintings and sculptures — all skillfully crafted by 25 artists currently incarcerated in facilities across the state of Georgia.
Image credit: Randy M., Lanier Bridge, 2023, acrylic on canvas, Courtesy of the Artist and HeartBound Ministries
“Art from the Inside” is the only annual exhibition of art by prisoners in the state of Georgia.
“We are beyond excited to partner with the Oglethorpe University Museum of Art for this year’s Art from the Inside show,” says HeartBound Ministries Founder and President Andrea Shelton ’91, an Oglethorpe University alumna.
“This year’s exhibit features artwork from an even wider range of prisons than past years. For men and women behind bars, the knowledge that their art is being seen by the ‘free world’ means so much to them and provides them with hope for the future. It is our wish that through this exhibit, the public sees that even in the darkest of places, hope, and creativity flourish.”
All works will be available for purchase, with 100 percent of the proceeds and at-will donations to benefit HeartBound’s Little Readers program, which allows children of incarcerated parents to see and hear their parent reading to them via DVD.
Last year, OUMA’s student diversity committee acquired two paintings from “Art from the Inside” to add to the museum’s permanent collection. The OUMA Student Diversity Committee was created in June 2020 as part of Oglethorpe University’s expanded commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. The goal of the committee is to find, elevate and prioritize diverse voices at every level of the museum’s activities and programming.
The exhibition will be on view Aug. 18-Oct. 15, 2023.
“Art from the Inside” will be on view concurrently with Atlanta artist Yehimi Cambrón’s first solo exhibition in Atlanta, “Documenting the Undocumented in the South,” and “Fritz Paul Zimmer: 50th Anniversary Exhibition.” Both exhibitions were co-curated by current Oglethorpe students.
