Author: Kornfeld, Phyllis
Title: Cellblock Visions: Prison Art in America
Description: Princeton, Princeton University Press, (1997). orig.cloth. 29x21cm, (26),86,(22)pp. 22pp photoplates.. Minor rubbing. Some cover soil. A dent to bottom binding edge.VG ¶ Almost everyone in prison is either making art or buying it," notes Phyllis Kornfeld as she uncovers the alternative artworld flourishing today in American prisons. Her book, "Cellblock Visions", not only presents some of the most inventive and gripping examples of outsider art, but also offers an unprecedented account of prison art in particular as a subject worthy of serious consideration. Having worked for many years as an art facilitator in jails and penitentiaries, Kornfeld is in a unique position to explain how art emerges in the most restrictive of environments and what gives inmate art its distinctive character. From painting to toilet-paper sculpture, the works of prisoners range from awkward attempts to amazing displays of virtuosity. In this book, Kornfeld presents the artists whose works offer freshness and surprise and tells the moving stories behind them. Filled with quotes from men and women prisoners and with Kornfeld's own anecdotes, Cellblock Visions shows how these artists, most of them having no previous training, turn to their work for a sense of self-worth, an opportunity to vent rage, or a way to find peace. We see how the artists deal with the cramped space, limited light, and narrow vistas of their prison studios, and how the security bans on many art supplies lead them to ingenious resourcefulness, as in extracting color from shampoo and weaving with cigarette wrappers. Kornfeld covers the traditional prison arts, such as soap carving and tattoo, and devotes a major section to painting..." - Publisher's

Keywords: Outsider Art, United States, Prisoners, Artists, Prison Prisons, Sociology, Penology, ,