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CELLBLOCK VISIONS 

By Phyllis Kornfield

May 7- May 29
Saturday, May 14: Reception 3-5 pm and Artist Talk 4pm



Watch Nick Verdi's video of Cellblock Visions with Phyllis Kornfeld HERE


The artwork being exhibited at A.P.E. was created between 1983 and the present by incarcerated men and women across the country in those prisons and jails that offer classes led by artist/teachers and with limited access to art supplies. Phyllis Kornfeld has been working directly with these artists for over 39 years—in all levels of security from county jail to maximum security to death row.

“These artists did their work with care and passion. Though inexperienced, they seemed to know what to do and how to do it, without instruction. They trusted something, an unseen guide. The art is beautiful in its sincerity even where the truth is painful to see. Art has always had the power to transform lives.”

PHYLLIS KORNFIELD Phyllis Kornfield is the author of Cellblock Visions: Prison Art in America, Princeton University Press and is the founder of several public projects whereby prison artists donate their artwork to benefit people in need. The Envelope Project: Incarcerated Men and Women Making Art for a Cause sold hundreds of original pieces of envelope art at the Outsider Art Fair in NYC. to benefit a children’s literacy non-profit.

Other publications include “Truth, Goodness, and Beautiful Art: Set Free in the Penitentiary,” for Art Education Beyond the Classroom, Palgrave MacMillan.  
Journal contributions include Encyclopedia of Southern Folk Art, Raw Vision: International Journal of Intuitive and Visionary Art, Mountain Record, Art and Antiques Magazine.

Phyllis Kornfeld lives in western Massachusetts and due to the Covid pandemic, is currently waiting to return to teaching at the Berkshire County House of Corrections. 

Image in the upper left by: Ronnie White


A.P.E.'s programming is made possible in part by sustained support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and The Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts.