The Quick Center is a constant hub of innovative exhibits, and its latest is no exception. “Stitching Time: The Social Justice Collaboration Quilts Project” and “Give Me Life: CPA Prison Arts Project” are both on display in the Fairfield University Art Museum Walsh Gallery. The purpose of the exhibit is to highlight the artwork and creativity of incarcerated individuals, and it will run from Sept. 12 until Dec. 13, 2025.
I had the opportunity to visit the gallery to view this exhibit through one of my classes. Many Fairfield University professors, including my own, have taken advantage of the project as a learning experience for students. Not surprisingly so, because the exhibit ties into several social justice themes that are prevalent at a Jesuit university like Fairfield. It shows us how to see the whole person through their artwork.
The gallery is split into two sections, one for the “Stitching Time” project and the other for the “Give Me Life” project. The Stitching Time project is a beautiful array of quilts, some large, some small, some colorful, some monotone, some modern, some more antique, but all profoundly interesting. It is clear that each artist put great time and effort into their pieces, which hang proudly on the wall. One of the quilts featured the faces of various people with a grid of gold ribbon stretched across it, imitating the bars which the artist behind lived for a time. The artwork is not just beautiful to look at, it conveys a deeper message, one that the creator might not be able to express any other way.
The “Give Me Life” project features some other modes of artwork, such as drawings, crocheted bags and even knitted hats. Dr. Michelle DiMarzo, who guided my classmates and me through the exhibition, explained that because the artists are all prisoners, they had very limited access to materials. Therefore, the majority of the works were created through colored pencils or oil pastels. You wouldn’t know it upon looking at the drawings, though. They all had such intricate detail that it was almost impossible to envision someone sitting for hours, crafting all the details by hand with nothing but a pencil.
One piece that stood out to me was a crocheted bag by a woman named Mia McSwain, who took the drawing that her daughter made for her and turned it into a bag. The piece is called “Nia-Mae, My Daughter,” and it was created simply from yarn, thread and fabric. I believe this piece is reflective of the goal of the project as a whole. When I saw that bag, I wasn’t thinking about a prisoner in jail, I was thinking about a mother missing her daughter and trying her best to stay in touch with her. I was able to see her whole person through her artwork.
Each piece was accompanied by a short description of the work. Jeffrey Greene, Project Manager of the Prison Arts Project, described his experience picking up Mia McSwain’s work to be displayed. “Two weeks after she’d gotten out of prison, I went to meet Mia McSwain in Bridgeport, CT. I was picking up her work for the 2018 Annual Show – a huge, crocheted duffel bag with a life-sized crocheted version of herself inside,” he said. “She’d taken herself out of prison!”The “Stitching Time” and “Give Me Life” exhibits are well worth a visit. To learn more, visit https://www.fairfield.edu/museum/stitching-time/.
