At the first WPA Arts exhibition

Last night, the Women’s Prison Association (WPA), an advocacy organization dating here to 1845 devoted to women with criminal backgrounds, held its very first art exhibit in the Isaac T. Hopper Home on Second Avenue between Sixth Street and Seventh Street.

Here's more about the exhibit and WPA Arts:

The women of Hopper Home have been busy creating everything from paintings and quilted scapes to poetry, each finding strength and healing through their mediums and in their community.

WPA Arts utilizes the power of the creative arts as a conduit to care for women in all areas of the criminal justice system and at any stage of their work with WPA.

WPA Arts groups feature a wide variety of arts-based activities including theater-based techniques, playmaking and role play, creative writing and poetry, and visual arts and music as the basis for a series of targeted workshops designed to enhance and supplement the quality of care for our women.

Participants are supported by their peers in a safe and secure group setting. They engage in fun, thought-provoking, and self-esteem building activities that improve their skills and harness the power of their own imaginations as stepping stones to making positive changes in their lives.

EVG contributor Stacie Joy attended the exhibit, and shared these photos...