Art and Poetry Inside the Decommissioned Nevada State Prison June 22 to September 30
Submitted by Carson Now Reader on Thu, 06/20/2024 - 6:32pm
Event Date:
June 22, 2024 (All day) Far Beyond the Walls is an unusual exhibition that involves 22 artists, 7 solo exhibitions and 2 group shows. Visual art, poetry and soundscapes will temporarily transform the cell housing, medical and culinary spaces of the historic and recently decommissioned Nevada State Prison at 3301 Warmsprings Court, Carson City, Nevada 89701.
The exhibition is a collaboration between the Nevada State Prison Preservation Society, curator Frances Melhop, and Melhop Gallery º7077. Frances Melhop, who is also a gallery director and an award winning visual artist, explains that “the intention of this exhibition is to move public awareness towards an understanding of the issues surrounding incarceration in the US, both historically and currently.The aim is to humanize those directly affected and open transformative channels for dialog.”
RECEPTION: The exhibition is on view from June 22 to September 30, 2024. It opens on June 22, 2024 with a reception from 3pm-7pm. Space is limited. To attend, RSVP using the link at https://www.melhopgallery.com/exhibitions-1/far-beyond-the-walls. There is a suggested donation of $25 per person. 100% of this will be donated to the Nevada State Prison Preservation Society to help build and maintain the museum on the premises.
The exhibition’s page at Melhop Gallery º7077 notes that “visitors will experience aspects of this collective societal issue through the eyes of formerly incarcerated individuals, incarcerated artists and artists on the outside responding to the prison spaces through their own prisms and perspectives.” For example, criminal defense lawyer Glynn Cartledge, who previously worked on death row in this very prison, has portraits of her former clients in the show. Gia Dreyer’s soundscape combining social consciousness with music composition is also part of the large exhibition. Shaun Griffin, now Nevada’s poet laureate, taught poetry writing to people in Nevada prisons for more than 30 years. He has selected some of those poems for inclusion in the Far Beyond the Walls exhibition. Visitors can even purchase work by artists who are current inmates at Northern Nevada Correctional Center and Lovelock Correctional Center. Proceeds will go to their commissary accounts.
Artists involved include Giampiero Assumma, Kevin Barron, Glynn Cartledge + Gia Dreyer, Jennifer Garza-Cuen, Shaun Griffin, Lisa Jarrett, Ismael Santillanes, Harun Farocki.
Poets involved include Sabin Barendt, Beau Brown, WIlliam J Connors III, John Fenton, John Garmon, Robert Gonzales, Durrell Grier, John Harris, Greg Kovner, John Quintero, Jack Sevana, and Laurence Taafe and artist and advocate Teddy Craig.
The exhibition will be on view from June 22 – September 30, 2024. If you miss the opening reception on June 22, you may schedule later visits through the Melhop Gallery site at https://farbeyondthewallsexhibition.as.me/schedule/dc83dd49/appointment/... Visits and the 2.5 hour tour are $25 per person. 100% of this will be donated to the Nevada State Prison Preservation Society to help build and maintain the museum on the premises.
For more information, contact Frances Melhop at frances@melhopgallery.com.
