Anything That Feels Good, Anything! Drawing

Lisa Lipton 26752-379… (Federal Inmate Registration Number) Lisa was an inmate with an expiration date – temporary residency and propulsion to move. She lived in perpetual motion inside a world that seems to only have 3 days – the day you get to prison – the time you serve (each day is a re-run of the last) – the day you leave. Stating “it is in the between that you find yourself if you are lucky.” It was 30 years ago that she went to art school (Art Institute of Houston) and it took that long for her to do anything with that education. Resentful of the art degree she never wanted to pursue any form of artistic expression (fulfilling a parent’s unmet dream). For her it was about the pursuit of money making propositions until that became the catalyst for a Federal Prison sentence. Convicted of fraud from the mortgage industry, she served close to 4 years in a Federal Prison. Her original sentence was to a “camp” and at close to 3 years she was sent to what you see in the movies or TV - the SHU (Special Housing Unit) aka the HOLE and spent 4 month there – LIFE CHANGER. She was falsely accused of an escape and given a charge of “violation of furlough conditions.” Real talk, she was set up by what they refer to in prison as a "snitch." She did her time easily for the crime she committed, the one she was sentenced to 54 months for - “I did it” she states in no uncertain terms. The experience with the “snitch” that led her to doing an extra year for something she didn’t do (imagine that, she didn't actually escape...) was difficult to reconcile. She moved behind the fence, became volatile and aggressive on various levels. She went from being at a camp, to the (SHU) hole and then to a high a security prison. Once behind the fence things got real and the population was more direct (perk) and less in denial about their crimes. There convictions ranged from murder to kidnapping to ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement-detention) and drug dealing - with few white collar criminals interspersed. She began painting in her first 3 months of being at the Federal Prison Camp and by the end of the 1st year she was teaching 3 classes a week, including a couple of drawing classes as well. She found that she was able to externalize the internal chaos she was supposed to ignore in this environment. She began by adding something uniquely feminine to much of what she painted in those early days along with the edge of her captivity.