Opening Night Lecture: Stitching Time + Give Me Life

Thu Sep 11 2025 at 05:30 pm to 06:30 pm UTC-04:00

New Dolan School of Business, Event Hall | Fairfield

Fairfield University  Art Museum
Publisher/HostFairfield University Art Museum
Opening Night Lecture: Stitching Time + Give Me Life
Advertisement
Jeffrey Greene of the Community Partners in Action's Pr*son Arts Program gives the opening night talk for this pair of exhibitions.
About this Event

On Thursday, September 11, at 5:30 p.m., Jeffrey Greene, Program Manager of Community Partners in Action’s Pr*son Arts Program, will deliver the opening night talk, preceded by brief remarks by Maureen Kelleher, co-founder of the Social Justice Collaboration Quilts Project. Together they will celebrate the opening of a pair of exhibitions in the Walsh Gallery: Stitching Time: Social Justice Collaboration Quilts Project and Give Me Life: CPA Pr*son Arts Program.

The talk will also be livestreamed. Click here to register for a reminder.


“White. Or Grey. Boring. Depressing. Very cold, all the time. It was awful. Small. It made me feel small sometimes. But art makes me feel like a big person again. It gave me life.” - Renee Peterson

Since 1978, Community Partners in Action’s Pr*son Arts Program has been working inside Connecticut prisons to positively and constructively change the lives of the incarcerated and the Pr*son environment by encouraging unique, personal, and evolving artistic pursuits. Artists are asked to make art that only exists because they exist - that transcends the Pr*son, Pr*son life, and the stereotypes that Pr*son affirms. The resulting work is often extraordinary. Exhibitions and publications serve to dignify this work and connect people in Pr*son with their loved ones and the public in the world outside. Community Partners in Action is celebrating its 150th year working with those affected by the criminal justice system in Connecticut.


About the exhibition: Stitching Time features 12 quilts created by men who are incarcerated in the Louisiana State Penitentiary, also known as Angola Pr*son. These works of art, and accompanying recorded interviews, tell the story of a unique inside-outside quilt collaboration. The exhibition focuses our attention on the quilt creators, people often forgotten by society when discussing the history of the U.S. criminal justice system. Also on view in the gallery will be Give Me Life, a selection of works from women artists presently or formerly incarcerated at York Correctional Institution, a maximum security state Pr*son in Niantic, CT, courtesy of Community Partners in Action (CPA). The CPA’s Pr*son Arts program was initiated in 1978 and is one of the longest-running projects of its kind in the United States. Founded in 1875, CPA is celebrating 150 years of working within the criminal justice system. Click here for more information.

Image: Yongmi Olsen, Breaking Through Narrow, pen and colored pencil on Bristol board, 2008. Courtesy of the artist and the CPA Pr*son Arts Program

Advertisement

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

New Dolan School of Business, Event Hall, 200 Barlow Road, Fairfield, United States

Tickets

USD 0.00

Sharing is Caring:

More Events in Fairfield

Ron Sexsmith
Wed, 10 Sep at 07:00 pm Ron Sexsmith

StageOne at Fairfield Theatre Company

Gary Gulman
Thu, 11 Sep at 07:00 pm Gary Gulman

SHU Community Theatre

Jessie's Girl
Thu, 11 Sep Jessie's Girl

The Warehouse at Fairfield Theatre Company

Ron Sexsmith \u2022 Fairfield, CT \u2022 StageOne
Thu, 11 Sep at 08:00 pm Ron Sexsmith • Fairfield, CT • StageOne

70 Sanford St, Fairfield, CT, United States, Connecticut 06824

Peelander-z \u2022 Fairfield, CT \u2022 The Warehouse
Thu, 11 Sep at 08:00 pm Peelander-z • Fairfield, CT • The Warehouse

Warehouse, 70 Sanford Street, Fairfield, CT, United States, Connecticut 06824

SeptemberFest 2025
Fri, 12 Sep at 06:00 pm SeptemberFest 2025

Our Lady of the Assumption Church

Fairfield is Happening!

Never miss your favorite happenings again!

Explore Fairfield Events