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Drury University has a new art exhibit on display and you might be surprised when you hear who the artists are, they are prisoners. KSMU's Jana Greer was at the opening of the exhibit and has more.
The curator of the exhibit Phyllis Kornfeld explains some of the works of art created by prisoners. The exhibit is titled "I Too Can Create: Art from American Prisoners". Michelle Gideon is a student at Drury and says that the exhibit surprised her.
The curator, Phyllis Kornfeld has been teaching art in prisons for 24 years. She started out teaching K-12 but was looking for a bigger adventure. She says that she was surprised to see how big art is in prison.
Prisoners rarely have resources to make art, but Kornfeld says they can be very creative.
They also use freeze dried coffee, toilet paper, soap, old magazines and food wrappers. Kornfeld says why she believes art is so important to prisoners.
Kornfeld is currently working at 4 institutions in Connecticut and Massachusetts and plans to continue to teach as long as she can carry her supplies. The exhibit is a part of Drury University's Convocations theme "Hope and Action" and will be running until the end of the month.