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About Pencil Point art studio
Our Vision
We created Pencil Point Art Studios to provide a platform for incarcerated artists to showcase their talent and creativity. By supporting these artists, we hope to make a positive impact on their lives and the world around us.
What We Believe
Many incarcerated individuals possess talents and creativity that can benefit society. Supporting their creative endeavors, such as art, and entrepreneurship, allows them to contribute positively to society through their skills.
Most of these individuals will eventually rejoin society. By offering support and opportunities for rehabilitation while they are incarcerated, you can increase their chances of successful reintegration into society. This benefits both the individuals and society by reducing recidivism rates.
It's important to note that supporting incarcerated individuals doesn't necessarily mean condoning their past actions. Instead, it focuses on acknowledging their potential for change, rehabilitation, and reintegration into society as responsible and contributing members. Supporting creative outlets like art can be transformative for individuals and communities alike.
My Testimony
As an artist and former inmate, I can speak firsthand of the power art has to help heal and find oneself. For years I was in and out of the system. Mostly due to one addiction or another. I always felt that I just didn’t fit in anywhere. I Didn't belong. I would go into prison, get zero help (none being offered), and come back out with the same demons I went in with. It became a very cyclical cycle. The last time I was incarcerated I found myself in federal prison, 900 miles from home. I had a three-year sentence and was sick and tired of being sick and tired. An artist who happened to be serving a 60-year sentence befriended me. I saw the portraits he would do and how much joy and peace he would have while doing them. I had never had that, and I wanted it. So, I asked him if he would help me learn to draw. That started a 3-year friendship that would last a lifetime.
I sit here today writing this because I found something I never knew. Myself. As I learned how to draw, I started to feel a sense of accomplishment. I spent hours with headphones on day after day drawing and drowning out the noise. This gave me a chance to really start to understand who I was and who I wanted to be. The art community accepted me. They didn't care about my past, they cared about my future. I now had a sense of belonging, a pride in myself and a desire to become the man I always wanted to be. Art was the tool I needed to fix what was broken in me.
I have a passion today not only for art itself but for the artist who sits behind the prison wall. That man or woman who needs hope and healing. Rehabilitation comes from a desire to make a change. Art has that ability.