Mallika Rao

Special to Poughkeepsie Journal

Book artist Pam Wright has combined her love of the written word and passion for helping the underprivileged into works of art.

Wright, 74, of Rhinebeck, spent 12 years facilitating writing groups for inmates in Dutchess County Jail. Some of their writings have been displayed in creations featured in the exhibit "Art From Inside," which was held in October in the Poughkeepsie-based gallery Womenswork.art. A similar exhibit will be held in Rhinebeck’s Starr Library in September.

Wright describes book art as “an art form that uses books as inspirations.” She has also used rock and microscope slides to create book-like pieces of artwork.

“Some of it looks like traditional books, some look less traditional, but I would estimate that I have made around 100 pieces,” she said.

Books are not an unusual medium for visual artists. Author and artist Jonathan Safran Foer used Bruno Schulz's book, "The Street of Crocodiles," literally cutting out most of the words to create an entirely new sculptural piece titled "Tree of Codes."

For her work with jail inmates, Wright has taken poems written by inmates and used sausage casing to bind them into different displays.

Each piece uniquely showcases the inmates' creative expression. One piece, "17 Syllables," features original haiku from female prisoners. Other works include "Solitary Confinement," a self-explanatory collection of works, and "The Truth Will Come Out."

“The basic interest that spans my work is finding people who are eager to express themselves,” she said.

Wright started the writing group with former Vassar College professor Molly Shanley after retiring in 2008 from Family Services in Poughkeepsie to encourage inmates to express themselves through writing.

The group eventually became gendered, with Shanley running the women’s circle and Wright overseeing the men’s group.

Shanley praised their collaboration.

“What is really great about Pam is that she believes writing is a tool to gain self-knowledge and she wants to share this with other people,” Shanley said.

Wright's time facilitating the writing group gave way to a variety of introspective compositions from the inmates. Whether it was writing hip-hop songs or sermons, the inmates were able to bring out different sides of themselves through words on a page.

“One of the things that happened in the jail that was transformative for me was that a lot of the guys write hip-hop style lyrics,” she said.

Wright decided to learn more about the history of hip-hop in an effort to get to know her pupils. She took a class at Vassar College and came away with a new understanding of the genre.

“Part of what my job in any class is to bring respect to the group,” she said. “I can’t say that I love hip-hop, but I can say that I can hear it.”

The group served as a place where people could interact without judgment about their experiences and bridge the gaps that might exist among them, something that Wright said is very much needed in today’s divided society.

“Everybody wants to be listened to,” she said. “The world is too much about opinions, and opinion gets us nowhere.”

Wright ended her group earlier this year to write on her own and to pursue other projects, including running three retreats with the Rhinebeck Women’s Writers group she co-founded. The decision to walk away from the group was tough, but necessary.

“You use the same energy in teaching as you do in making a work of art,” she said. “It was a very hard decision and I still feel sad about it, but you only have so much energy to give.”

She is still involved in the jail’s Storybook program as a member of the outreach committee for the Episcopal Church of the Messiah in Rhinebeck, which provided a grant to the jail to start the program three years ago.

Having majored in English as an undergraduate student at Clark University in Massachusetts, Wright always had a love of the English language that was fostered from a young age.

“I was raised by a mother who loved language,” she said. “It always seems like poems come to me at the right time.”

In addition to her English degree, Wright has a Master’s degree in liberal arts with a concentration in women’s studies from her alma mater, a field she developed an interest in as a child of the civil rights era growing up in Connecticut.

“I’ve always been a political person,” she said. “I was demonstrating from the time I was 15 years old.”

Over the years, Wright’s passion for making an impact in the community led to her helping those affected by substance abuse in different clinics. She also taught writing to inmates at the Shawangunk Correctional Facility.

This eventually led her to Family Services, where she worked in different capacities from 1998-2008 before retiring to commit full-time to her volunteer work at the jail.

As she pursues her own art projects, Wright said she hopes to create a similar group with recovering addicts, alongside her continued work with the Rhinebeck Women’s Writers group.

“I am looking forward to exploring and pushing the form and function of books,” she said. “I want to examine the role of information in our time, and I want to keep asking how and what art communicates when mundane and expected forms are challenged.”

Contact freelance writer Mallika Rao at features@poughkeepsiejournal.com

By the numbers

1794: Year poet and painter William Blake self-published “Songs of Innocence and Experience Shewing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul,” an artistic look at his famed works of poetry with his own illustrations

100: Estimated number of pieces of book art Pam Wright has made

15: Number of women involved in Wright’s Rhinebeck Women’s Writers group.

2007: Year Wright started the writing group in Dutchess County Jail with Vassar College professor Molly Shanley.

2008: Year Wright retired from Family Services

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