Image credit: Randy M., Lanier Bridge, 2023, acrylic on canvas, Courtesy of the Artist and HeartBound Ministries
August 18 – October 15, 2023
The Shelley and Donald Rubin Gallery
OUMA enthusiastically welcomes back “HeartBound Ministries: Art from the Inside,” an exhibition of paintings and sculptures designed and created by a selection of artists currently serving time in the Georgia prison system. Approximately 45 works of art will be on display, including 2D and 3D objects in a wide variety of art media.
All the proceeds from the sale of these works of art benefit HeartBound’s “Little Readers” program, which allows children of incarcerated parents to see and hear their parent or loved one reading to them via DVD. “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.”
This year’s exhibition includes paintings and sculptures by more than 25 men and women, in partnership with eight facilities throughout the state of Georgia including: Arrendale State Prison; Burruss Correctional Training Center; Coffee Correctional Facility; Floyd County Prison; Metro Re-Entry, Metro Transitional Center; Pulaski State Prison; and Walker Faith and Character Based State Prison.
Their participation is facilitated through a nonprofit organization supporting Georgia’s inmates and prison staff. HeartBound Ministries’ mission is to provide programs and resources to meet the needs of the prison community — incarcerated people, their families, and correctional staff — changing the culture from one of crime and incarceration to hope and restoration.