By james art 
Enter the Chrysler Art Museum under arches in the Renaissance Palazzo style and the reception desk, Weer to the right. Put down the far corridor.
Go past the priceless signs in Warkster, the Greek urns, the Roman terrace mosaics and the rising marble statue of Gol Apollo. The first floor ends in a modest rectangular room. Near the back ladder, the art of prisoners hangs on the walls.
The diorama of a closed cell sits on a display stand behind a thin layer of glass. This is the artist’s cell, 8 to a 10-inch model whose 10-inch walls are thick paper. The paper wrapped in pipes is the bars. There is no ceiling, so the cell can be peered from above.
A miniature sink is sculpted with aluminum foil. There is a tiny roll of toilet paper made of actual toilet paper. The bed occupies the greater part of the space.
Plaka identified work in 2024 as “Fathers is a matter” by the artist Joshua V. at the Chesapik Correction Center.
The track is part of “Beyond the Bloc”, an exhibition of works of art of people locked in prisons in Norfolk, Virginia and Chesapiik, who personalize their life stories, illustrates their imprisonment and symbolizes the public challenges that must be faced with the release your.
The artists were invited to present their works at the Norfolk Museum, but they were not given art. Each piece is made with materials that are part of everyday life behind bars.
In “Fathers Matter”, a Diorama Book, entitled “The Innocent Man,” is casually on an orange coating made by felt. The front lid with a pencil depicts a set of hands, clutching the metal on a sliding door to the prison.
Nearby, the food boards are carved from soap, as well as a pair of slippers that drink under the mattress. And above the bed on the wall hangs a calendar open until July – marked with X’s, as if someone counts the days.
The Chrysler Museum said it received more than 100 statements about “Beyond the Bloc”. The final selections for the exhibition, exhibited by March 2, are 30 pieces of 28 artists in addition to five painted masks “Masquerade of Our minds” from the block of the women’s program observed by the Norfolk Sheriff’s Sheriff’s office.
The artist’s posters do not list their full names and the museum did not give the names to the Virgin Pilot. Director Eric H. Neil said in an email: “We decided to jointly make a joint decision with the local sheriff’s offices to respect the confidentiality of deprived of the deprived artist, their family and the victims. Our approach aims to prioritize dignity and sensitivity to all affected. ”
Many of the works carry a melancholy implication, including the “Cat Year” by Heather S. at Norfolk City Prison.
Using colored pencils on a piece of paper, the artist draws four versions of the same cat in the same posture, looking through the same window to the wooded backyard. However, each drawing is placed in a different season. In Spring, the scene in front of the cat window is a blue sky and fresh greenery. In Summer, the sun is bad. Autumn becomes orange and the snow falls through the “winter”.
“How I read it: this cat is the artist,” said Michael Berlucci, who organizes the exhibit.
He touched the drawing, he tilted his head sideways. The cat is stuck inside when the weather, outside, passes by.
“It’s kind of sad,” he said, crossing his hands.
Berlucci, who is the manager of the museum community community and is a member of the Virginia Beach Municipal Council, organizes the first exhibit “Beyond the Bloc” for the museum in 2016 and two subsequent repetitions before 2020. This is the first time back this year From this, a pandemic.
Remember that he said that these artists are not in state or federal prisons. They are in the city prisons and will soon return home.
“The more we can understand some of the cycles in which they can be trapped – poverty cycles, cycles of disorder of drug abuse, violence cycles, challenges for mental health – the better we will be equipped to get them Back in our communities, neighborhoods and homes, Berlucci said.
Shades of sadness and hope color art.
“I hope this next court date, on the 21st, I hope for probation,” Pamela Rock said during a prison interview.
The 33 -year -old rock was booked on September 28 at the Virginia Beach Correctional Center on charges of a crime possession of a controlled substance. Her collage, just a bunch of grapes, is exposed to Chrysler. It depicts a cluster of purple grapes made of magazine paper, glued together with toothpaste and placed on a piece of paper, which it paints yellowish, using a concentrate of orange juice, and a swab like a brush.
“It was something to do. Like, it took my mind to be inside. Time passed, ”she said. “I felt like my mood.”
In the museum, its frame grape hangs on a wall about 5 feet from a pencil drawing, “Western/Hope” depicting a wooden cross and a pair of angel wings.
Angel Wings are a specialty of the artist Timothy Atchley, a 41 -year -old, who attracted almost every day to the Norfolk City prison, where he was held on charges of breach of probation.
His art skills are a well -known product in his pod, where he accepts requests from other prisoners for plush bears to send by the mail to children or hearts for loved ones.
“I get many requests for Angel Wings,” he said in an interview.
Most days he starts to paint as soon as his morning shift, as the breakfast cook is over. As for Angel Wings, he must take his time.
First, he thinks of the size of the drawing and where he wants it on the page.
“Then I will make the outline of the wings. At first, it looks like a heart, ”Atley said. “Then, I’ll get the details and start submitting them. Where do I want the shadows? Where is the meaning of light? Things are emerging and the drawing is getting bigger and more. ”
His favorite drawings are those who take the longest time because they help to pass time.
“There is no” perfect “in the art. There are no mistakes in art, “he said. “In the end, it’s a release.”
Colin Warren-Hicks, 919-818-8139, colin.warrenhicks@virginiamedia.com
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If you go
When: 10:00 to 17:00 Tuesday until Saturday, lunch until 5:00 pm Sunday. Until March 2.
Where: Chrysler Museum of Arts, a memorial place, Norfolk
Tickets: Free
Details: 757-664-6200, Chrysler.org