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Book Event: Making Art In Prison: Survival And Resistance

With UofM Professor, Artist, & Author, Janie Paul
Just in time for our Ann Arbor’s annual Art Fair, the Roadhouse is excited to welcome Janie Paul to talk about her sensational book, Making Art in Prison: Survival and Resistance, on Tuesday July 16th. We invite you to what will be an incredible evening as we hear her talk about the years she spent talking to incarcerated people and share their profound stories.
Over two million people in the United States are locked behind bars, where they endure the degradation and violence of a dehumanizing system. But in prisons around the country, incarcerated people have regained their dignity by creating objects of beauty, meaning, and value. In Making Art in Prison: Survival and Resistance, Janie Paul introduces readers to the culture and aesthetics of prison art communities, and shares heart wrenching, poignant, and often surprisingly humorous artists’ narratives. These powerful stories and images upend the manufactured stereotypes of those living in prison, imparting a real human dimension.
A lifetime artist herself, Janie Paul moved to Ann Arbor in 1995 to teach at the University of Michigan School of Art & Design. In 1996, she co-founded The Annual Exhibitions of Artists in Michigan Prisons, an initiative of the Prison Creative Arts Project at the University of Michigan, and for the past 27 years, has traveled throughout Michigan to meet artists and select work for the project. The project has provided crucial validation for the artists. Making Art in Prison features over 200 images of their extraordinary work.
Making Art in Prison reveals—through the eyes of the artists who have lived through it—what mass incarceration looks and feels like in the United States. It reveals the ways in which they keep their humanity intact, and invites us to reflect on our own humanity. It also invites us to look closely at the images and appreciate the richness of life and luminosity emerging from the darkest corner of our country. Please join us on July 16th to dive into this extraordinary work with Janie Paul, enjoy delicious appetizers, and connect over art before the launch of Ann Arbor’s Art Fair 2024!
Appetizer Menu
Sweet Potato Fries (V)
Mini North Carolina Shrimp Burgers
Trio of Bruschetta (V)
- Roasted Red Pepper
With Creamery Cream Cheese - Roasted Mushroom
With Creamery Goat Cheese - Pesto
With SarVecchio Parmesan Cheese