Janie Paul

Janie Paul is an artist and emeritus professor at the University of Michigan Stamps School of Art and Design. She worked with Buzz Alexander to develop the Prison Creative Arts Project and in 1996 they organized the first Exhibition of Artists in Michigan Prisons. Since then, she has been the senior curator of the yearly exhibition. Her recent book, Making Art in Prison: Survival and Resistance, based on reflections about this work and exchange with incarcerated artists, is a philosophical, political, and aesthetic look at the significance of making art in prison. For many years, Janie taught Art Workshops in Prisons, a class in which college students facilitated weekly art workshops in prisons and juvenile facilities. For this work, and her creation of Detroit Connections, which brings students to Detroit elementary schools to teach art, she has received many awards including the University of Michigan’s Diversity Award and the Arthur F. Thurnau Professorship. Janie’s painting is simultaneously influenced by her community work and serves as a source for it. Her art, which includes oil and encaustic painting, drawing and printmaking, is rooted in a long-standing connection to nature.