'Change someone’s life through art':

Inmates create art through IU’s Prison Art Initiative

By Natalie Fitzgibbons natfitzg@iu.edu | @NatalieFitz9

Editor’s note: According to Indiana Department of Correction policies, outlets are not permitted to publicize inmates’ full names and faces.

Tangled strands of dark pencil strokes create the windblown wildness of her hair — hair that doesn’t entirely cover her face but hides just enough to add to her shyness and mysteriousness. Eyes that stare back at you like the Mona Lisa — not quite knowing what they’re conveying but knowing they convey something. Heavily outlined lips slightly parted like she might be about to speak. Russell H. holds the portrait of the woman he calls “Mother Nature” on April 4 in the IU Prison Arts Initiative class at the Putnamville Correctional Facility. He described the artwork as having details derived from nature — which he said he enjoys — to represent the mother he grew up without.

Growing up without a mother gave him a greater appreciation for women, he said, not the opposite.

“I like doing art,” Russell said. “I do little doodles here and there.”

He said he hopes his portraits encourages people to have more appreciation for women.

“It may open up more close mind frames,” he said.

IUPAI — which started its first class in August 2022 — is now at the end of its second semester of classes at the Putnamville Correctional Facility, an all-male prison in Greencastle.

“I went up and visited them last April, and they told me if it was up to us, you could come in and teach tomorrow,” Oliver Nell, IUPAI program director, said.

“They were so excited about an art class and an IU class there.”

Nell said the facility in- vited IUPAI to teach for a second semester before they even asked to come back.

The art class is meant for everyone, no matter the skill, education level or age. However, the correctional facility does have its own regulations, he said. This semester’s class had about 100 inmates on the waitlist, but approximately 20 inmates made it into the class. Nell said one of the main purposes of this class is to be able to give the inmates an opportunity to express themselves, something that the general population can often take for granted.

“The value and the kind of mental fitness that is developed in learning a skill in the first place is so empowering and is just so valuable to confidence and to the ability to learn more skills,” Nell said. “To say, ‘Look what I did. Look what I did’ when the odds are obviously against them — they’re in a prison — to be able to produce and they did.”

The class also gives the inmates a chance to hone in on what they value, such as their relationship with God, a grandparent’s farm they grew up on or their family and kids, he said. Nell said when he had conversations with other program directors and people who’ve worked in the prison system, they told him, “These are going to the best students that you’ve ever had.” And when he asked the IUPAI instructors how the inmates are handling the classwork, they told him the inmates are doing far more than what was asked of them.

“At a regular university, we can’t wait ‘til class is over. Because we can go hang out with our friends. We can go get coffee. We can go do whatever,” Nell said. “Prison, it’s the opposite. They can’t wait till class starts.”

On April 4, Russell sat