January 16 – March 30, 2025 Make or Break: Creativity as an Act of Survival
This exhibition brings together works of art by artists who created their work while incarcerated or otherwise institutionalized. It presents works by Ken Grimes, Justin McCarthy, Martín Ramírez, and Inez Nathaniel Walker, among many others. Programming will highlight related topics such as mental health, art therapy, and social justice. The illustrated catalog includes a discussion among contemporary art experts Richard Torchia and Alex Baker, as well as Sergio Hyland, an artist who was incarcerated for more than twenty years, and Dr. Elizabeth Linehan, professor emerita of philosophy at Saint Joseph’s University, who has taught in the Inside Out prison exchange program at the State Correctional Institution at Phoenix. The work in this show is from the Keen Collection of Outsider Art at Bethany Mission and was curated by Molly Dougherty, the Director of the Keen Collection.
Eddie Arning
EDDIE ARNING American
b. 1898, Germania, TX
d. 1993, McGregor, TX
Involuntarily committed, Austin State Hospital, Austin TX, 1934-73
Henry Ray Clark
HENRY RAY CLARK American
b. 1936, Bartlett, TX
d. 2006, Houston TX
Incarcerated, Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville
James Edward Deeds Jr.
JAMES EDWARD DEEDS, JR. American
b. 1908, Panama
d. 1987, Christian County, Missouri
Involuntarily committed, Missouri State Hospital, No. 3, Nevada, MO
Ken Grimes
KEN GRIMES American
b. 1947, New York City
Hospitalized five times between 1971 and 1978; creates art at Fellowship Place in New Haven, CT
Johann Hauser
JOHANN HAUSER Slovakian
b. 1926, Bratislava, Slovakia
d. 1996, Klosterneuburg, Austria
Involuntarily committed, Maria Gugging Psychiatric Hospital, outskirts of Vienna, Austria; moved to the Center for Art and Psychotherapy (1981), renamed the “House of Artists” (1986), autonomous building on the outer edge of the Gugging hospital grounds.
Frank Albert Jones
FRANK ALBERT JONES American
b. 1900, near Clarksville, TX
d. 1969, Huntsville, TX
Incarcerated, Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville; 28 years, over 3 prison terms
Joe Massey
JOE MASSEY American
b. 1895
d. unknown
Incarcerated, Ohio State Penitentiary, Columbus, 1939-50, Marion Correctional Institution, Marion OH, 1950-55; paroled 1959, released 1965.
Justin McCarthy
JUSTIN MCCARTHY American
b. 1891, Hazleton, PA
d. 1977, Tucson, AZ
Involuntarily committed, five years, Rittersville State Home for the Insane, Allentown, PA
Martin Ramirez
MARTIN RAMIREZ Mexican
b. 1895, Jalisco, Mexico
d. 1963, Auburn, CA
Involuntarily committed, Stockton State Hospital, Stockton, CA, DeWitt State Hospital, Auburn, CA, 1931-63
Heinrich Reisenbauer
HEINRICH REISENBAUER Austrian
b. 1938, Kirchau, Austria
Hospitalized for 30 years; invited to Gugging House of Artists, outskirts of Vienna, Austria, 1986
Günther Schützenhöfer
GÜNTHER SCHÜTZENHÖFER Austrian
b. 1965, Mödling, Austria
Institutionalized off and on for many years; invited to Gugging House of Artists, 1999
Herbert Singleton
HERBERT SINGLETON American
b. 1945, New Orleans, LA
d. 2007, New Orleans, LA
Incarcerated, Louisiana State Penitentiary, Angola, two stretches, 1967-86
Leopold Strobl
LEOPOLD STROBL Austrian
b. 1960, Mistelbach, Austria
Guest at the Open Studio program, Gugging House of Artists, outskirts of Vienna, Austria, since 2004
Inez Nathaniel Walker
INEZ NATHANIEL WALKER American
b. 1911, Sumper, SC
d. 1990, Willard, NY
Incarcerated, Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, Bedford Hills, NY, 1971-72
August Walla
AUGUST WALLA Austrian
b. 1936, Klosterneuburg, Austria
d. 2001, Vienna, Austria
Involuntarily committed, 1952-57. In 1970, committed, Maria Gugging Psychiatric Clinic; in 1986,
moved to Gugging House of Artists, outskirts of Vienna, Austria.
Adolf Wölfli
ADOLF WÖLFLI Swiss
b. 1864, Bowil, canton Bern, Switzerland
d. 1930, Bern, Switzerland
Involuntarily committed, 1895, Waldau Psychiatric Clinic, Bern, Switzerland
