A one-man traveling exhibit of life-sized paintings of innocent prisoners who were exonerated will make a stop in the Alle-Kiski valley this February.
Pittsburgh artist Dan Bolick's "Resurrected" opens Feb. 1, and runs until Feb. 28, in the art gallery at Penn State New Kensington. Bolick's show depicts 10 men who were freed after years of sitting on death row or facing life sentences.
Each of the 10 men is featured in an acrylic and latex painting, some more than six feet tall, and pen, pencil and maker drawing. The artwork is complemented by text that tells the story of their incarceration and the evidence that eventually led to their freedom.
Pennsylvania native Drew Whitley is one of the men. In 1988, Whitley was falsely accused of a shooting death at a McDonalds near Kennywood. He received a life sentence, and served 18 years before being proved innocent in 2006 on the basis of DNA testing.
A graduate of Kent State University with a bachelor's degree in fine arts, Bolick took up the cause to help wrongfully incarcerated prisoners in 2007. Working with the Innocence Institute of Point Park University, a nonprofit organization that investigates possible wrongful convictions, Bolick found the subjects of his exhibit. He used his paint brush to humanize the men and to make an argument against the death penalty.
"The exhibit at the New Kensington campus gives me another opportunity to give a visual voice to the issue of wrongful incarceration in the United States," said Bolick, a retired art teacher from the Pittsburgh Public School System.
Bolick brings his expressionistic style to New Kensington at the request of colleague Bud Gibbons, professor of visual arts and director of the Art Gallery at the campus. Both artists are award-wining members of the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh and both have exhibited at the Andy Warhol Museum, Carnegie Museum of Pittsburgh, and Pittsburgh Center for the Arts.
"Resurrected" opened in July at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art and is coming off a two-month run at Westmoreland County Community College. After the Penn State New Kensington show, Bolick moves the exhibit to the Point Park campus in Pittsburgh. Future displays are scheduled for Ohio and Texas.
The exhibit is free to the public. Gallery hours are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays and noon to 5 p.m. weekends. For more information, contact Bolick at dbolick@windstream.net. For photos of the exhibit, visit http://www.nk.psu.edu/43072.htm#NEWS43072 online.