The Children's Prison Arts Project Gallery Opening

Houston’s at-risk youths’ artwork featured in Space 125 Gallery also showing work by 2005 Individual Artist Grant Recipient Yu Ru Huang

Houston, TX – Houston residents will soon be able to take a glimpse inside a young prisoner’s life. Artwork created by Houston’s at-risk youth will be featured in Houston Arts Alliance’s [formerly Cultural Arts Council of Houston + Harris County] Space 125 Gallery [3201 Allen Parkway]. The opening reception for The Children’s Prison Arts Project is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 24, 2006, from 6 to 8pm and is free to the public. The exhibition continues through Sep. 22, 2006, with gallery open 10am – 2pm, Monday thru Friday.

The pieces featured in The Children’s Prison Arts Project depict a broad spectrum of emotions. Some works allude to a utopian life far removed from prison, with animals and family as the focus of the pieces. Juxtaposed against these works are images conveying fear: children behind bars, hands bound by chains and the ever-present image of tears. Others depict a dichotomy between the two worlds: broken hearts, angels and devils, freedom and confinement, and religious icons permeate these works.

The young artists are sponsored by Children’s Prison Arts Project, a Houston-based nonprofit arts education organization that has been receiving support from the Houston Arts Alliance since 1995. Children’s Prison Arts Project is the only arts education organization that provides consistent programming to incarcerated youth. It exposes at- risk youth in correctional facilities and shelters to educational theater and visual arts forums. In the last 12 years, Children’s Prison Arts Project’s programs have produced over 150 original performances, which served over 12,000 juvenile offenders and their families. Their artwork has been displayed in coffeehouses, restaurants, libraries, museums and galleries for the past three years.

In addition to the young artists, Houston Arts Alliance Individual Artist Grant Recipient Yu Ru Huang will also be featured in the exhibit. Geared toward the immigrant community, Huang’s works reflect her Taiwanese heritage, yet transcend cultural and social barriers as they incorporate concepts ranging from Zen gardens to the Sudanese language, Dinka, along with paintings that reach beyond the boundaries of Taiwanese to other endangered languages that are fading away with the tide of globalization.

The young artists’ and Huang’s artwork will be presented in Space 125 Gallery, a nonprofit gallery dedicated to showcasing the work of Houston artists whose artistic accomplishments have been recognized by the Houston Arts Alliance through its increasingly competitive Individual Artist and Organizational Grant Programs.

Space 125 is located on the ground level of the Houston Center for the Arts at 3201 Allen Parkway [one block west of the intersection of Waugh and Allen]. The gallery is free and open to the public Monday thru Friday from 10am to 2pm and by appointment. Funding for the Space 125 Gallery is provided by the City of Houston and individual donations through the Cultural Arts Council of Houston and Harris County.

Houston Arts Alliance [formerly The Cultural Arts Council of Houston and Harris County] is a nonprofit tax-exempt organization dedicated to advancing the arts in the Greater Houston area. For additional information, please call 713.527.9330 or visit our website at www.cachh.org.