Artist works with prisoners, their children

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. — Eight faces peer out from the larger-than-life-size portraits hanging on the gallery walls.

There's Joe, an inmate who stands in front of a backdrop adorned with handwriting, his tattooed arms crossed against his chest. There's Vonteak, another prisoner, whose dark wings unfurl from the back of his orange jumpsuit. Then there's 17-year-old Cheyenne, who's poised beside a lotus flower as she leans against the booth where for years she has visited an imprisoned family member. In portrait after portrait, the stories of inmates and the children of the incarcerated are illustrated in precise yet loving detail.

"I'm always struck by people's ability to create in the most trying situations" says Evan Bissell, an artist and educator who collaborated with prisoners and Bay Area youths with jailed family members on the paintings and other works displayed in "What Cannot Be Taken Away: Families and Prisons Project" at SOMArts Cultural Center in San Francisco.

Motivated by what he saw as a lack of meaningful dialogue in the public school system about issues that affect teens, such as trauma, violence and incarceration, Bissell, 27, designed a project that would use art to address those subjects. He partnered with Community Works, a Berkeley, Calif., nonprofit that provides opportunities for art-making and education to prisoners, their victims and family members of those jailed.

And he found four inmates and four young adults with imprisoned family members who were willing to talk about their experiences — and get creative.

"I thought (the project) would be really cool, especially because half of us are out here and the other half are inside," says Elizabeth, who, like all the project participants, goes by her first name to maintain her anonymity. The San Francisco resident designed a portrait that depicts the stormy-eyed 21-year-old discarding the smiling mask that keeps her true emotions hidden. A cracked mirror in the corner of the picture reflects the prison bars that surround her father — and haunt her memories.

Elizabeth's painting, and the others in "What Cannot Be Taken Away," are the result of nearly a year of soul-baring conversations and art-making that took place in Bissell's studio, during his meetings with the inmates and through correspondence between the young adults and prisoners. In addition to the portraits, the show includes a sobering timeline of the history of incarceration, labor and education in the United States. There are quotes, letters, notes and sketches that provide illuminating — and sometimes heartbreaking — insights into the lives of the project's eight participants.

There are also places where the public can leave reflections and comments about the prison system. And in the center of the gallery, there's a labyrinth where anyone can meditate — and perhaps experience some healing.

"We think the arts are a really perfect avenue for the beginning of the restoration process," says Ruth Morgan, a Bay Area-based documentary photographer who shot a series of portraits of San Quentin inmates in the 1980s. Morgan founded Community Works in 1994 to provide peaceful, relationship-building rehabilitation to current and former prisoners, their victims and youths.

With an estimated average daily population of nearly 8,000 inmates spread throughout the Contra Costa, Alameda and San Francisco County jail systems, in addition to overcrowded state prisons in Marin and Solano counties, many children and young adults in California's Bay Area have experienced the imprisonment of a parent or loved one. That's why projects like Bissell's are so important, Morgan says. Visual arts, writing and theater allow prisoners and former prisoners, their victims and children to express themselves,

"Giving people a voice, an opportunity to tell their stories is so powerful," Morgan says. "Giving youth whose parents are incarcerated the opportunity to really speak their truth and speak about the impact of their parents' incarceration really empowers them."