Art from the ‘inside’ featured in popular U-M exhibit

The 10th Annual Exhibition of Art by Michigan Prisoners will be mounted March 22-April 5 at the Duderstadt Center Gallery on North Campus.

The exhibit is free and open to the public. Gallery hours are 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and noon-6 p.m. Sunday-Monday.

The event is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, Department of English Language and Literature, School of Art & Design (A&D), and the Michigan Student Assembly.

During the past decade, this nationally recognized show has grown to include 343 works of art with a broad range of styles, mediums and themes by more than 200 artists.

According to Jamal Biggs, a featured artist, “The exhibit has helped in eliminating the ‘us versus them’ mindset among the free public and the incarcerated, and assists in facilitating a sense of community that joins both segments of the population.”

Last year, more than 4,000 people attended the exhibit.

Janie Paul, A&D professor and artist, and Buzz Alexander, English professor and founder of the Prison Creative Arts Project (PCAP), will serve as co-curators of the exhibit.

Along with student and community volunteers, Paul and Alexander travel to 40 prisons throughout the state each year to select the strongest examples of art created in Michigan prisons.

PCAP also will sponsor a series of educational events in conjunction with the art exhibit.

There will be an opening reception 5:30-8 p.m. March 22 in the gallery.

For more information, call (734) 647-7673 or visit http://www.prisonarts.org.