CAMPUS AND AREA
University Daily Kansan, May 1, 1985
Page 3-B
Doug Ward/KANSAN
LANSING — Troy Yardley paints a mountain scene during free time at the Kansas State Penitentiary. Yardley and other prisoners take art classes taught by John Newman, who earned a master's degree in fine arts from the University of Kansas in 1982.
Doug Ward/KANSAN
Doug Word/KANSAN
LANSING — Tim Prock, an inmate at the Kansas State Penitentiary, holds "Killing Time." One of the drawings he has made during his time at the prison. Prock is one of about 55 inmates at the prison who have developed an interest in art.
State prisoners seek escape by brushing up on artwork
LANSING — Filed away between the pages of his sketchbook, Tim Prock keeps a picture of three men beating a clock. Above the picture are the words, "Killing Time."
By SYDNEY WALTER Staff Reporter
"It just kind of reminds me of what we're all doin' here," says Prock, an inmate at the Kansas State Penitentiary. "Just killin' time."
For the last five years, Prock has escaped his imprisonment through artwork. Two years ago, he was joined by Troy Yardley, another inmate who developed an interest in art.
they can find someone who can write well enough to volunteer as a teacher.
"I got bored one day and had to do something." Prock says. "Before that, 'I just been doing time.'"
"We draw in our spare time, Prock says. "Usually that's at night when everyone else goes to sleep. We just keep drawing."
Today, Prock and Yardley are two of about 55 inmates who spend their days and nights at the easel, passing
The inmates usually send the drawings they've done to family and friends. But three years ago, a girl with a cleavage started an annual inmate art sale.
Newman said the inmates used painting and sketching as an outlet for expression.
Yardley says he used to sketch scenes on the backs of envelopes. He says his aunt noticed the sketches and told him to take his drawing more seriously.
"One of the guys told me, 'A lot of them do it to keep 'em from goin' crazy,' "' he says.
The art program at the prison developed on its own, according to Prock and Yardley. Other inmates had seen it as a challenge and decided it looked as if it were here.
"For a long time, she thought the sketches were part of the envelopes' designs," Yardley says. "She didn't even realize I drawn them."
The inmates draw at various times of the day. They take artwork and leatherwork classes, and they hope to start a class in creative writing if
programs
time and expressing their thoughts on canvas, paper and anything else they can find.
One problem Newman faces is obtaining supplies for the inmates
Randall Buford deputy director of
John Newman, who received a master of fine arts degree from the University of Kansas in 1982, took the job.
"Sometimes the families don't send them the right materials because they don't know what to do. They can't afford a lot of the inmates can't afford to hear their commissary. They have to rip up a lot of bed linen to draw on."
THE ART PROGRAM at the prison has been supported by the Kansas Arts Commission in Topoka. About two years ago, the commission awarded a grant to hire an art instructor to imitate the inmates five days a week.
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'We encourage and support this. It's a way for them to express themselves, an outlet for frustration and a way to deal with their leisure time.'
Randall Buford, deputy director of programs at the penitentiary, says prison officials think the art program is not a way for inmates to spend their time.
"WE ENCOURAGE AND support them."
Buford says, "It's a way for them to express themselves, an attempt at the right way to deal with their leisure time."
Prock says, "You just have to forget those bars are there and you just paint. I call myself an escape artist."
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Prock and Yardley taught themselves to paint.
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