Laura Pecenco launches Project PAINT

Laura Pecenco’s dissertation, “Paint in the Can: Creating Art and Gender in Prison,” is a multi-method analysis of the diverse ways in which gender is performed by men in prison art programs.  As part of her dissertation research, Laura has launched a prison art program called Project PAINT: The Prison Arts INiTiative. This program began in March 2014 and was recently featured in CityBeat’s cover story http://www.sdcitybeat.com/sandiego/article-12952-the-push-to-get-arts-in-corrections-back-behind-bars.html (and here is how it looks in the actual magazine: http://npaper-wehaa.com/sdcitybeat/#2014/04/30/?article=2215535). The program is operating at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility every Monday and Wednesday night, and the prisoners are working on five large paintings on wood panels (8×7′), which will go into the five visiting rooms that the institution has. They will be rotated, so that there will be beautiful new art on a regular basis. These paintings will provide great backdrops for photos and will liven up the spaces in which loved ones are able to visit.