Artist in Prison Gallery Empathy

Welcome! 34 artists in prison have contributed 44 pieces of art to the show! Each have their own page which you can access by clicking on the individual images below the slide show. We also offer a virtual gallery where you can explore these pieces in a shared 3d space with other visitors of this site.

There is a guest book and contact information for each artist on the inside.

Read more about the Contest Details and The Auction. Auction closes Dec 10th & Contest Winners will be announced by December 19th – the closing of the show.

  • A painting of a variety of flowers and vines on a textured orange-gold background. The flowers include lilacs, roses, daisies, violets, and sunflowers. A butterfly and hummingbird fly over the flowers. In the top center, the vines write the word “solidarity”.
  • Close up: Tree branches embroidered a white piece of cloth. One portion of the branch is dark brown and curving to the left. Two other portions of the branch are lighter brown and more upright. One part of the light brown branches is sprouting light pink flowers and small green leaves. Alongside the pink flowers, another portion of the branches have green, then yellow, and finally orange leaves moving from left to right. Some of the orange leaves are beginning to fall from the tree branches.
  • A large transgender symbol fading from light blue to pink and outlined in blue is on top of a bright background of crisp rainbow stripes (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple). Inside of the transgender symbol are stylized cartoon images of 12 different people’s faces and torsos, most of whom are black but representing a range of skin tones. The people show a range of gender presentations and styles
  • A woman with brown skin and hair pulled up into yellow ribbons stands confidently with eyes cast down. She has red lips and is wearing a grey-blue sweatshirt. She stands in front of an impressionistic pink, grey and blue background. Above her to the left in a fancy, semi-cursive font it read “Jessica” in black writing.
  • Two large open hands are cupped holding some seeds in their palms. The seeds are brown with white stripes defining them. The word “Empathy” is spelled out across the seeds, one letter on a seed. The skin tone of these hands are a bit ambiguous; the palms could be a person of any race though the highlighting around the edges suggest someone of African descent. The background is a deep dark blue and in the right corner is a yellow signature of the artist “Van 21”
  • With soft lines, the foreground of the image is shown in black silhouette, depicting a prison yard with a series of fences topped in loops of razor wire, a guard tower with a prison guard standing watch holding up a gun, and the figure of a person standing with arms stretched up, looking toward the silhouette of a flying bird. In the background there is a colorful sky with white, yellow, orange, and red which could be seen as a beautiful sunset reflecting on clouds or a fire reaching across the horizon.
  • From the right hand corner of the image, a light-skinned woman peeks out with her head tilted to the left. She has black hair that is pulled back and is wearing a white shirt. She looks directly out at the viewer of the image. To the left and right of her head are a red squiggly line surrounded by a series of lines in brown. She is standing against an impressionistic watercolor background that is dark grey, teal, green, blue, and light grey like the colors of a storm. Above and to the left of her in blue lettering it reads “Ashley.”
  • A figure with black hair parted in the middle, wearing a white buttoned top and slacks stands in front of a curving rainbow against an impressionistic pink, grey and blue background. The figure has one hand on their hip, and their other hand is put up against their cheek in a playful, confident pose. They’re also smiling slightly and wearing sunglasses. Above and to the left, in a fancy, semi-cursive font it reads “Kay-Kay” in black writing.
  • A drawing divided into many rectangular cells packed together tightly. Each rectangle has a different solid color background. Most rectangles have within them one black and white striped, two-eyed, oval-shaped figures.
  • From left to right, there is a small plant sprouting as it is watered by a large, red watering can that emerges from the upper right hand corner of the image. The watering can pours out the word “truth” in red and white font of various sizes across and upon the sprouting plant. Behind the plant on a grey-blue background are images in white of prison bars, handcuffs, skulls and other spooky-seeming images. In the bottom right corner there is half of a face that appears to be that of a monkey looking wearing towards the rest of the image.
  • Painting of a tree, with brushy strokes in brown depicting the trunk, and many small leaves covering the branches above. Below the tree are a number of colorful flowers, including a white and a red daffodil, and more flowers in yellow, blue, pink, orange and purple, with green grass in the background. Behind the tree is a pale blue sky, with some birds visible in the distance. On top of the leaves of the tree and painted in light pink are the words: “Plant a seed and watch it grow, tell somebody, anybody, and everybody you know. Look to your neighbor with an outstretched hand. Communicate with them to show you understand. We all are people of the human Race, made in God’s image with love and grace. We may have our differences, but there are many similarities, So let’s work on that, come together and make a difference in our communities.

The images below are designed to show up better on phones. If you click the link under each picture it will take to the full page of the artwork complete with image descriptions.