Art show reflects humanity and uplifts incarcerated voices in the Triangle

On the last Saturday in July, as the sweltering sun hung low in the sky, people buzzed around Hillsborough’s Margaret Lane Gallery, preparing iced coffee, putting up shady tents and neatly arranging flyers for anyone who might stop by.

Many of these folks were formerly incarcerated at Orange Correctional Center, a minimum security prison for men just under two miles away from the gallery. Today, they’re mental health counselors, business owners, company supervisors and community members who credit the efforts of Triangle-area organizations and volunteers that helped them stay out of prison upon their release.

This event — the “Something to Say” art exhibit — is an opportunity for formerly incarcerated individuals to say thank you, and to spread a message that community support helps keep them out of prison.

“Incarcerated people are out here doing right, and we’ve become productive members of society,” Demorris Tucker, who was released from OCC in 2017 and goes by “Tuck,” told the Saturday crowd. “Too many times, we hear unsuccessful stories, recidivism, returning to lives of crime. The success isn’t spoken about enough. But your support, your coming today, gets this message out there.”

The art show was first held in 2021 as an opportunity to give incarcerated community members the ability to have their voices heard through artistic expression. The Human Kindness Foundation and Eno Friends Meeting of Hillsborough, two local organizations that work closely with incarcerated individuals through volunteer work, split the cost of high-quality art materials and deliver them to OCC.

The art displayed is professionally framed and hung in one of the town’s local galleries for all to see. The reception held to honor the work is intended to encourage support of those who created it.

“The Orange County Reentry Council sent an invitation to everyone in the county on their list who has reentered society, and a lot of us invited whoever we knew too,” said Sally Freeman, an Eno Friends member and longtime OCC volunteer who sparked this event. “We’re hoping this event made them feel like a part of the community, and we want to keep their connections alive.

“That’s where all of this comes from — volunteers go into prisons and realize there’s so much humanity in there. They’re waiting for connection in a system that completely dehumanizes them. When volunteers come in, there’s an amazing experience of having your humanity reflected.”

Admiring art, advocating for reentry

At 4:30 on the dot, the moment Saturday’s event officially kicked off, William Elmore placed a stool in the center of the gallery room, positioning himself toward the front door. The table he sat behind included a sign-in book for attendees to write messages, a handful of pens and some poems by men in various North Carolina prisons.

Elmore, commonly known as “Mecca,” left OCC in 2015 and has become a well-known figure in the Triangle. He is a shining example of successful reentry — a major goal for prison volunteers and advocates. Two years ago, he co-started a lawncare business, Community Based Landscapers, which employs many men who have been released from prison.

“Whenever I’m at events like these, someone always puts a microphone in my hand,” Elmore said later into the evening, as listeners cheered and applauded. “We can stay out, and we can create a chain of support to keep us out.”

Elmore beamed at those entering the gallery on Saturday, hugging many attendees who asked how they could purchase his book, a co-written story about his life sentence and reentry journey: “They’re out in the back. Just put $20 in the bowl,” he’d say.

By the end of the night, an old mixing bowl overflowing with cash rested next to the fence separating the art gallery from law enforcement vehicles parked beside the Hillsborough Fire Department.

The art itself — which included black and white pencil sketches, Jackson Pollock-esque splatters and a neon purple horse done in pastel — was just one part of the evening. Everyone involved with the event hoped to make a larger message clear: There’s no need to be hopeless. Formerly incarcerated members of society are succeeding, rejoining communities and staying out of prison, they say, thanks to people in the Triangle helping them every step of the way.

Folding tables neatly lining the gallery’s backyard were filled with brochures listing reentry resources. Board and staff members at Step Up Durham, Reentry House Plus, Darkness RISING, Wounded Healers, Orange County’s Local Reentry Council and many others — local organizations working to help formerly incarcerated members of our communities — stood at the ready, excited to talk about the work their groups do to support people out of prison.

Many members of these groups are well-versed on reentry issues. Like Elmore, they reintegrated not long ago after stints behind bars. And they’re passionate about helping others do the same.

“Reentry is a passion for me. Really good people who just made a mistake aren’t given the right tools when they get out,” said Jay Giles, a staff member at Step Up Durham who spent three years in prison in Arizona.

“These groups listen, and it makes you feel seen. When I was in prison and after I got out, someone saw me and my hurt, and they identified what I needed. That’s why I’m not back in prison today.”

Art as therapy in prison

Since becoming OCC’s chaplain two years ago, Josh LeRoy has encouraged the men there to use art as a creative outlet.

“Everything in the Peace Center we try to make therapeutic if not spiritual, and working on art accomplishes this,” LeRoy said. “A lot of them can tell you that incorporating art into the rhythm here is a form of therapy.”

LeRoy’s position is paid by Alamance Orange Prison Ministry, a community-funded nonprofit organization created to provide OCC with a full-time spiritual leader. His office and a well-stocked religious library sit inside the Peace Center, a recreational building at OCC built with fundraising by volunteers.

The News & Observer visited the Peace Center to talk with LeRoy and two artists, Michael Fullmore and David Bishop, whose works hang in Margaret Lane Gallery through Aug. 21.

“I’ve pushed a lot of guys to submit stuff for the art show. Getting stuff out there for others to see is key,” LeRoy said. “We have gifted people in our community who live inside these fences. Not just in artistic talents, but this is a start.”

LeRoy hopes to have an art teacher on staff at OCC in the near future, he said.

“Art programs have proven to be a valuable asset in rehabilitation efforts, and they are common in prisons both nationwide and statewide,” said Brad Deen, a communications officer for the Department of Public Safety.

“We cannot immediately state how many or precisely which of our 54 state facilities feature art programming,” said Deen. “Several other state prisons besides Orange Correctional Center work with their communities to showcase offender artworks. In the Triangle area, Central Prison and Nash Correctional Institution have offender art shows.”

Fullmore submitted two pieces for this year’s show: one is of a lion, and the other shows two deer.

“There’s something about lions. I think it’s their eyes. And how they lay in the grass, watching,” he said. “I submitted two last year, too — I made one coming out of these weeds. It’s kind of dark, and the lion is sitting very still. My daughter said she felt like it was watching her. I like that about lions.”

Bishop submitted a handful of pieces using his favorite artistic medium: pastels. He loves working with service dogs, which he hasn’t gotten to do since transferring out of Warren Correctional a few years ago. This inspired his favorite piece: a black and white dog with its tongue sticking out, which he titled “Tasting Life.”

“Some don’t feel comfortable about being judged, so they didn’t want to submit their art. But if you had fun making the piece, that’s all that matters,” he said. “That’s why I submit so many. I really enjoyed thinking about my pieces and putting them on paper.”

Turning failure into success

This year’s event also featured The Ready Singers, a group formed at OCC of singers and musicians who continue to perform upon release. They sang high-energy gospel songs with time for speeches in between.

“We might not sound that good, but we are here to give you energy. The same energy you gave in supporting us, and now we’re here to give it back to you,” Demorris Tucker said to listeners gathered in folding chairs.

Tucker was joined by Charles Collins and Karl Wade, two singers who were recently released from OCC. Friends and family members accompanied on guitar and drums.

“We only rehearsed for the first time in a few months on Thursday, so give us a break,” Tucker said to laughter.

The six-song set list was packed with gospel music, mostly bouncy “clap along with us!” tunes. Wade led the audience in Amazing Grace to close out the set.

“To me, this event meant visible evidence of change, and chances for those who are struggling because of life circumstances,” Collins told The N&O after the event. “Look how they took chances and turned that failure into success!”

Also at the event, members of Emancipate NC, a nonprofit organization that focuses on mass incarceration issues, read poems written by men at OCC and other facilities in the state.

‘Worthwhile even with one submission’

Mary and David Knox, a married couple who own and operate Margaret Lane Gallery, don’t turn a profit on the exhibit, as the pieces are not for sale.

Their son, Xavier Knox, who owns Yesterday and Today Frame Shop just a few minutes down the road from the gallery, professionally frames the pieces using leftover material.

Each piece costs him about $150 to make show-worthy, he said. He framed 15 pieces this year.

“The cost for framing this artwork is coming from my own pocket, but I think the message is important enough,” Xavier Knox said. “I believe it’s important to have a person’s artistic voice able to be heard.”

The pieces are returned to the artists after the show ends and can be shipped to loved ones for a fee, or they’re hung in the Peace Center until release. Some of last year’s pieces hang there today.

This year’s show was a bit smaller than the first, but that’s no problem, the artists said.

“This is a small prison, so the show isn’t big to begin with,” Bishop said. “But it would still be worthwhile even with one submission.”

How to see the art, get involved

Freeman with Eno Friends says the best place to get involved in helping formerly incarcerated people or current inmates is to search for your local reentry council or other reentry organizations. That is a better method than reaching out to prisons directly, she said.

▪ See the “Something to Say” exhibit at Margaret Lane Gallery at 121 W. Margaret Lane in Hillsborough. The exhibit runs until Aug. 21, but the gallery will be closed from Aug. 3 to 14.