Creativity in an Uncreative Place
May 2-June 27, 2020
The drive to create can be undeniable, even in a place as bleak, depressing, and dangerous as a prison. Creativity in an Uncreative Place showcases artwork made by inmates in Florida prisons, drawing from the collection of David Gussak, Ph.D., ATF-BC, Professor for Florida State University Graduate Art Therapy program. The bulk of the collection is comprised of the unique paintings by “Candy Man,” an inmate who paints with brushes made from locks of his own hair, and creates his own pigments from the colored dye of M&M candies. Other artists in the exhibition used shoe polish, trash bags, cardboard, and other found objects to make their contraband works of art. Gussak’s stresses that “as long as there has been incarceration, there has been art. Prisons are filled with creative energy needing an outlet.”
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Saturday May 2, 2020, 11am
Special Presentation "Art as Therapy: Creativity in Uncreative Places" (Exhibition admission free day)!
Dave Gussak, Professor for Florida State University's Graduate Art Therapy Program and Project Coordinator of the FSU/FL-DOC Art Therapy in Prisons Program, will explore the concept of Art as Therapy in a presentation entitled “Creativity in Uncreative Places” through Eddy Mumma’s work, and an exhibition of the work of several prison inmates, including “The Candy Man". Gussak will explore the therapeutic benefits of art making for artists like Mumma and The Candy Man, and the human drive to create that can flourish in unlikely circumstances and elevate the reality of the creator despite limitation imposed by the environment.