with the law now that many of you have
had or know someone who had a brush with
the law it usually is an indication that
you’ve had some police interaction of
some sort that’s something we go around
bragging now let me give you an example
sentence this was not the first time
that Charles had a brush with the law
good so in this in this term we’re using
this as a noun as a brush as a thing he
had we’ve had my brush with the law that
I’d like to describe to you is a double
entendre of the expression now double
entendre can it is a figure of speech in
which a spoken phrase can be understood
in either two ways the first more
familiar as in the example sentence not
the first time Hannah brush with the law
Myra shook the law is more of a verb
where we are creative we are painting
with the law so in the first meaning
more straightforward more obvious the
second meaning is often used as in the
form of a pun or as ironing like I said
that’s how we’re using it in our title
of the program so even though we are
working alongside with people who have
this is my daughter painting jail she
would come with me and paint the neurons
with us so even though we were using the
form of a pond I earning the title is
meant for positive enlightenment not the
negative connotation of the job so how
does program came about where it came
from two completely separate places
number one in 2010 i graduated from papa
that’s being academy in the finals where
i received my masters of fine arts
degree i actually received my bachelor’s
requirements from this minor
institutions in this in here today
arcadia university throughout all of my
arts education we were taught how to
draw on how to paint put things in
correct perspective but more importantly
we were encouraged to take our thoughts
and our ideas and build upon thoroughly
and effectively so soon after i
graduated from papa and click on add on
craigslist offering my artistic services
for hire so within a week i received an
email from the director of recreational
services at the University of
Pennsylvania asking if I would like to
put together in our group there yeah
sure university of penn and it’s out to
be cool thing it was the penn center for
rehabilitation so he put together a
once-a-week class there and i worked
with the patients they cared for who
were disabled veterans stroke victims
elderly patients who are suffering from
too
and and it was great success we had a
good time and you can see in their
smiles and they get so excited to show
their family or friends and caretakers
what they were able to produce with
their own hands on now number two of how
this program came about is from a much
more personal story in my life and it
was about the same time that Penn had
started it started that class air so my
son who was that about 17 years of age
had picked up a habit which turned into
a full-blown drug addiction to heroin
and it started with painkillers Tobias
actually led to heroin now how I can
only beat the two places six feet under
grant or behind bars thankfully and
every day I’m grateful it has been a
ladder for us now anything up in jail is
not something I ever thought I first of
all never thought I would ever go to a
jail or know anyone in jail a little on
my own child but here we were chasing us
he was a great kid he was
who excelled in school he played
basketball he he was a jokester for his
family and friends and especially his
sister he thought his sister and she
likewise for him so um nevertheless year
we were in the county jail looking at
each other he was horrified to you know
that hug or hold hands so I asked him
how he was spending his time whooping
and he was using it constructively and
for a future outcome that was better
than when he first got there and he said
there were no vote rehabilitated
programs within the within the jail
least a county level there is none so
this is what I started thinking about
the group that can and how maybe I could
bring it to this jail just try so after
many hours of research long hours of
research and leaving my way through the
process of figuring out how to get it
into that jail and would help of a very
special searched social worker who’s
here today it came into fruition and we
were able to start this program hence
brush with the law was now program so
they allowed me to start with the
females and we did a lot of no pressure
art exercises
this is one example this is called you
did the name embellishment project where
they were asked to describe themselves
to someone they had never met before
only using their name they were able to
share their emotions and their trial
errors that 11 of their lives nonverbal
and they felt safe in this class we also
studied philosophy philosophers like
Plato Aristotle the allegory of the cave
and then we would also go over Greek
mythology stories and this is a response
to the story of narcissus anecca which
is a great story and everybody we should
try sooner the Greek mythology stories
were important because they they help
you understand and identify personal
qualities and traits within ourselves so
then we also started doing some URLs in
the program in the prep the compounds
into prison itself and then eventually
the men’s group is out of honor now this
was our first in Europe we all
collaborated together on what we were
going to do and kept coming back to the
ring around the rosy song we all fall
down so don’t look down on someone
unless you were helping them up we all
call it was great there was one groans
in this wet in his class you didn’t
choose really tough girl and she didn’t
participate much in the class until we
started doing this mural and I started
noticing her concentrating on painting
one picker in particular this boy and I
didn’t ask her why I just wanted her to
continue focusing and do
she’s doing it she finally came to be
pulled me aside and said can you make
sure you finish this boy just right for
me I’m going to be discharged before
it’s going to be finished and I need to
make sure he’s going to be just right
and I said of course I would but why is
he so quick to you and her answer was
that this was her son and that was the
so I started getting a lot of requests
from the inmates who were being
discharged asking how they could
participate in this program on the
outside that they wanted to show the
good they have to offer when they
re-enter their communities but also have
a place where they thought unified
accepted and not disconnected from
society so first with the law turns out
that we were giving voices to these
socially marginalized people who usually
are never heard of Herkimer understood
and I learned that the arts this class
is not just about hard it was the arts
which is a conduit to the social aspects
that brought us all together and helped
us learn how to communicate even if
there were disagreements we were able to
gather together and work through them so
brush with the law is now evolved we do
city beautification projects and we do
exhibition opportunities for for these
people and we also do artist-led groups
throughout the suburbs of Philly
yeah it also has now become a federally
recognized 501c3 organization that has
this beautiful board of directors who
are helping and lead us in the right
direction this was their first
beautification project this is one of
the girls who actually was inside of the
prison with me and this is we did this
for the norristown police department it
was kind of weird just to watch a bunch
of people maybe a mural together in the
police station where they arrested those
people who were coming to paint and
they’ve all got a lot nobody I think
even that cop was trying to pick up one
of the girls we didn’t know ok ok that’s
fine he’s a great guy so that that was
one of our first so it turns out that we
don’t only do these projects to bring
about beautification two spaces that are
habitually graffiti or blighted in any
way the intent is more to bring about a
change in thought from society who like
me at one time thought nothing good
could come from such people who have had
a brush with the law
it’s a pretty great gift when your child
needs you to discover the purpose of
your life no matter how are breaking
through to it maybe Thank [Applause]