Critical Dialogue:
Confronting Mass Incarceration

Aug 1, 2022 10AM-1:30PM

The Critical Dialog Program at Anderson Ranch seeks to engage the community in lively discussion about contemporary art and art making.

With Anne Pasternak, Russell Craig, Katie Kitchen and Jesse Krimes. Lunch is included. 

Acclaimed artists Jesse Krimes and Russell Craig share their journey from incarceration to art with Brooklyn Museum director, Anne Pasternak. At a time of growing momentum to end the mass incarceration of more than two million people in the United States, we will hear the stories of humanity, perseverance and dignity from two artists determined to make art in the most challenging conditions and their efforts to support other formerly incarcerated artists. Jesse Krimes, the subject of the new documentary Krimes, served a six-year prison sentence during which he produced and smuggled out numerous bodies of work exploring how contemporary media shapes or reinforces societal mechanisms of power and control. Upon being released from prison, self-taught artist Russell Craig  began collaborating with  Philadelphia’s acclaimed Mural Arts Restorative Justice Program. Together they are the co-founders of Right of Return USA, the first national fellowship dedicated to mentor and support formerly incarcerated artists. Katie Kitchen, art collector and Ranch program participant, will join the conversation to share the journey of her involvement in the release of her father’s killer from prison through the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Victim Dialogue Program.

This workshop takes place in Schermer Meeting Hall and consists of lectures and discussion.

Anderson Ranch is dedicated to offering opportunities to promising artists and increasing access to our programs for a diverse group of participants. A limited number of scholarships are available for this Critical Dialog program. Please contact Elizabeth Ferrill, Artistic Director of Painting, Drawing & Printmaking if you would like to submit a scholarship application or discuss additional support options. lferrill@andersonranch.org

Panel

Anne Pasternak

Shelby White and Leon Levy Director Since 2015, Anne Pasternak has served as the Shelby White and Leon Levy Director of the Brooklyn Museum, one of the oldest and largest fine arts institutions in the nation. For more than thirty years, Anne has devoted her career to engaging broad audiences with the limitless power of art to move, motivate, and inspire. As a staunch advocate for the civic and democratic roles our cultural and educational institutions can play, she is committed to projects that demonstrate the crucial links between art and social justice. During her time at the Brooklyn Museum, Anne has focused on strengthening the Museum as a center for the visual arts that is courageous, pioneering, and inspirational. With her demonstrated imagination and skill, she envisions new ways to connect the Brooklyn Museum’s historical collections with contemporary ideas and practices, such as experimenting with how to make the permanent collection and gallery spaces into more dynamic experiences. Through her leadership, Anne has also expanded the Museum’s educational and public program offerings, and she has fostered remarkable special exhibitions, including The Legacy of Lynching: Confronting Racial Terror in America and We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965–85. These initiatives are building the foundations for the Brooklyn Museum’s new Strategic Plan, to further the Museum’s mission to create inspiring encounters with art and engage the community around the issues of today. Prior to joining the Brooklyn Museum, Anne served as the director of Creative Time, where she initiated projects that gave artists opportunities to respond to political and environmental challenges, while also expanding their practice and work globally. During her tenure, the organization collaborated with hundreds of artists, including Nick Cave, Paul Chan, Jenny Holzer, and Kara Walker, commissioning and presenting works that ranged from sculptural installations in Grand Central Station’s Vanderbilt Hall to skywriting over Manhattan, as well as Tribute in Light, the twin beacons of light that illuminated the sky above the former World Trade Center site, and continue to be presented on the anniversaries of 9/11.   Portrait by ⓒ Timothy Greenfield-Sanders

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Russell Craig

Russell Craig is a painter and Philadelphia native whose work combines portraiture with deeply social and political themes. A self-taught artist who survived nearly a decade of incarceration after growing up in the foster care system, Craig creates art as a means to explore the experience of overcriminalized communities and reassert agency after a lifetime of institutional control. His work has been shown at the Philadelphia African American Museum, and included in group shows like Truth to Power; State Goods: Art in the Era of Mass Incarceration; and the OG Experience and has garnered coverage in outlets including the Philadelphia Inquirer, The Washington Post, Artsy, The Guardian, and The New York Times. Craig is an alumni of Mural Arts Philadelphia’s Restorative Justice Guild program, a 2017 Right of Return Fellow, and a 2018 Ford Foundation: Art For Justice Fellow.

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Katie Kitchen

Katie Kitchen is originally from Houston, TX, although she has not lived there for many years. She feels fortunate to have grown up in a home where her parents loved and collected art. That passion for art was passed onto Katie who started collecting art, as well, in the late 1960’s. She is most grateful for Anderson Ranch which inspired her to actually make art. In July of 2014, Katie attended a symposium at the Ranch curated by Anne Pasternak, Making the Art You Want to See. One of the speakers, Laura Jo Reynolds, introduced Darrell Cannon, who had spent many years in solitary confinement at Tamm’s Super Max Correctional Facility.  Darrell’s talk laid out the criminal, inhumane conditions at Tamm’s. That was the moment Katie started thinking about the man who had killed her father in 1991, Joseff White. After going through the Victim Dialogue Program in Texas and subsequently meeting Joseff, Katie was convinced that he should be released from prison. In 2017, Joseff was released from prison and now lives and works in Houston.

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Jesse Krimes

Jesse Krimes is a Philadelphia based artist and curator whose work explores how contemporary media shapes and reinforces societal mechanisms of power and control, with a particular focus on criminal and racial justice. While serving a six-year prison sentence he produced and smuggled out numerous bodies of work, established prison art programs, and formed artist collectives. After his release, he co-founded Right of Return USA, the first national fellowship dedicated to supporting formerly incarcerated artists. Krimes’ work has been exhibited at venues including Aspen Art Museum, MoMA PS1, Palais de Tokyo, Philadelphia Museum of Art, International Red Cross Museum, Zimmerli Museum, and Aperture Gallery. He was awarded fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, Creative Capital, Art for Justice Fund, Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, Independence Foundation, Captiva Residency, and Vermont Studio Center. Krimes’ work is in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Agnes Gund Collection, and Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection. He is represented by Malin Gallery in New York. In addition to his independent practice, he successfully led a class-action lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase for their predatory practice of charging people released from federal prison exorbitant fees.

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