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Transcript/ScriptCONNECT: Carceral Artist
HEADLINE: Breaking Free Through Art
TEASER: An artist turns incarceration experience into beautiful art pieces
PUBLISHED AT: 04/24/2023
BYLINE: Aaron Fedor
DATELINE: New York City, New York
VIDEOGRAPHER: Aaron Fedor
PRODUCER: Kathleen McLaughlin, Kyle Dubiel, Zdenko Novacki
COURTESIES:
SCRIPT EDITORS: MJ/AK
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO __
TRT: 3:00
VID APPROVED BY: MJ/AK
TYPE: VPKGF
EDITOR NOTES: ))
((Eds: This is a self-narrated feature.))
((INTRO))
((Jared Owens isn't just an artist—he's a survivor. He served more than 13 years and 3 months in a US Federal Prison for a narcotics conspiracy charge. During his incarceration, he re-discovered a newfound passion for art that helped him cope with living in prison. VOA's Aaron Fedor brings us his story from New York City.))
((NATS))
((Jared Owens, Artist)) My name is Jared Scott Owens. I’m a visual artist. My practice is still developing. I'm incorporating found objects. I have a background in ceramics and assemblage and some installation art.
((NATS))
((Jared Owens, Artist)) I went to prison for conspiracy to possess narcotics, cocaine.
((Jared Owens, Artist)) It was like my fifth year. I was walking through the rec [recreation] yard and they had a ceramic program there.
((Courtesy: Jared Owens))
And I remember that I did ceramics as a child. That was my first love. So, I started going in there. I got the ceramic bug, which is a weird bug to get, but the ceramic bug is good because it's very Zen like, sort of take your mind off, you know, your situation. So, I
needed that.
((Courtesy: Jared Owens))
And then eventually, wound up teaching classes, taking over a lot of responsibilities inside the ceramic room itself, teaching other guys throughout the years. I segued into painting because I always painted too. I had a[n] easel in junior high school and high school. And then I just, I knew, I started really looking at art in magazines and I said, you know what? I need to paint. I understand the language, what it takes to do it. And I didn't have the material to do it, but I could visualize what it was to paint.
((NATS))
((Jared Owens, Artist)) How art helped me in prison was definitely a coping mechanism, but it was also an exercise in seeing what I can get away with while I was in there. I always need to feel like I'm breaking the law for some reason. And art made me feel like I was breaking the law while I was in prison without really doing anything that's going to get me in big trouble. Even making pieces inside, anything that was made, to me, was valuable because it was creativity in a place that was supposed to oppress you. That was the thing that kept me going, was the challenge of saying, “Hey, I'm going to make it through this, you know, part of my life, and I'm going to get home, and I'm going to have a practice.” I studied like a lot. What paints are made out of, the materials, what the masters painted with, what they had, what they didn't have, the first cadmiums, when they were on a canvas, you know, like who was the first one to do that, like I was interested in all that. And that kept me going.
((NATS))
((Jared Owens, Artist))
The work behind me is titled, ‘Nemesis’. I don't really do figurative painting, but I like this one because I did it by accident, and it's got everything that I love. It's just a loose painting. And it was a painting I did during when we had the upheavals because of the George Floyd killing.
((Jared Owens, Artist))
I just think about my practice as it's just going. I don't really think about past, present. There's no linear aspect to anything that I'm doing. It's kind of like a lot of happenstances in the work, and I'm just going with the flow. I don't have a calendar that says, “I'm going to be at this point, this point. Where will you be in five years?” I just, I try to live every day as if, you know, what am I doing today?
((NATS: Jared Owens))
I might mess with this today. See what comes of it.
((NATS))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)
New York City, New York
Embargo DateApril 24, 2023 16:16 EDT
Byline
Aaron Fedor, VOA News
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
