Prison Alumni Coffee Painting - William Frazier

I ran across this article because of the coffee painting by William Frazier but had to go back and read it again because of the rest of the content. This show comprised of works by Connecticut inmates, presented through the Prison Arts Program (part of Community Partners in Action, a nonprofit organization which devotes itself to the rehabilitation of prisoners). Very cool programs. You should read the entire article.

What really sparked my curiosity was about the time I first started to paint with coffee there was a show put on by an inmate from a local prison. Apparently he had been painting with coffee using home made brushes out of toilet paper. He would paint on any small scrap of paper he could find. The guards would take his artwork if they found it so he started to mail them home. It was kind of a self-prescribed art therapy for him to work out issues and cope with prison life. I would very much like to have seen his show but I’m not even sure of his name. If you know e-mail me at ezju@nosuchanimal.net

I Googled William Frazier but didn’t find any of his art work. I’ll try again later!

Culture is Alive at Charter Oaks

By: Lindsay Dakan Issue date: 12/13/05 Section: Arts

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“The art that comes out of this program is absolutely incredible. All the artists on display at Charter Oak are alumnae of the program who are now building on the creativity they developed while in prison. The exhibit presents a diverse selection of paintings and sculptures (made out of everything from marble and bronze to Styrofoam, soap and cardboard), and all are striking in their own way. Most notable, in my mind, is a painting of a face by William Frazier, done in reds, oranges, yellows and browns (for which coffee was used) that swirl together and dance around downward-cast eyes that simply pop out of the paper. The colors appear to have been blown around the paper with a straw - a method I remember from arts and crafts in elementary school, but with results nowhere near comparable to this work.”

Entire article