‘My artwork has helped me’: Exhibit highlights work by RS Eden participants

For as long as he can remember, Chino has used his art as a way to ground himself and cope with the stresses and anxiety of life.

“I’ve always been interested in artwork,” Chino said. “I remember telling my mother that one day I would love to work for Disney and do some cartooning. But then I got steered in the wrong  path and ended up doing other things instead.”

Those other things, explained Chino, who asked to be referred to only by his first name because of privacy concerns, included using and selling illegal drugs. He was eventually sent to prison and served 10 years. Throughout his incarceration, Chino said he relied on art to get him through some of the toughest times.

“The artwork has helped me deal with some mental issues,” he said. “I believe that when it comes down to certain issues, when I get stressed out, when I feel the anxiety kicking in, my artwork has helped me.”

Recently, some of Chino’s work – three delicate, folded paper boxes featuring religious iconography and pop culture imagery – were on display at the Capri Theater in north Minneapolis as part of a show highlighting art created by participants at RS Eden, a Twin Cities nonprofit providing substance use and mental health treatment services and housing for people leaving incarceration and homelessness. Chino, a resident in one of RS Eden’s housing programs, learned about the show from a staff member at the program, who invited him to exhibit his work at the show, the second ever put on by the nonprofit.

When he first heard about the art show, Chino said he was reluctant to include his creations. He’d never shared his art with the general public before. But something about the invitation to take part left him feeling inspired

“They said it would be an opportunity to show art by people like me, people who’d struggled and been incarcerated,” he said. “They wanted other people to see our talents. I decided to go head and put something in.”

Chino was all in on the idea of showing his art, but when it came to actually going to the exhibit’s opening, he said, “I still had a little bit of anxiety: I’m not going to lie. But somehow I was able to at least show up.”

Caroline Hood, RS Eden president and CEO, said the exhibit was created as an opportunity for participants to show their art to the general public and to help them feel proud of something they’d produced.

“This art show is intentionally an opportunity to help participants feel and be empowered to show their work and have them be part of a community in a way where they are adding gifts and strengths and talents,” Hood said. “First and foremost it gives participants an opportunity to have their art displayed; to have people show up and ask them about their work.”

Another, nearly as important goal of the event is to use art to defeat stereotypes about people who’ve been incarcerated and struggle with mental illness and addiction.

“The show is for general community members,” Hood said. “For people who haven’t had the experience of meeting someone with a felony record who is also beautiful and warm and kind and makes amazing art.”

The event isn’t a fundraiser, Hood said, where, “we invite wealthy people to give us money.”

The focus really is on the artists and showcasing their work. “We wanted it to be empowering for the participants,” she said. The first show was put together quickly, but it still held powerful impact.

“It was probably my favorite event last year. It was so moving,” Hood said.

Long history of service

RS Eden was founded in 1971, as part of a grassroots movement responding to Vietnam veterans coming back from the war addicted to opiates. “At the time, there was no substance use disorder treatment outside of alcohol or for folks who weren’t white and didn’t have wealth,” Hood said.

Over its 52-year history, the organization has expanded and evolved to provide three areas of service offering an extensive array of recovery and substance-use treatment options, including inpatient and outpatient and residential services. More recently, RS Eden added a withdrawal management program.

Other services include programs focused on helping individuals as they exit incarceration.

“We support men and women coming out of the prison system,” Hood said. “Sometimes we have federal folks who are awaiting trial. We are working with them to stabilize and successfully reintegrate back into the community.”

Another key element of RS Eden’s programming is supportive housing offered in several Twin Cities metro area locations. “We are working with people exiting substance use treatment, homelessness, incarceration,” Hood said. “We help get them into permanent and supportive housing.”

Unlimited access to mental health and substance use services is important for RS Eden participants, Hood said, because many have long and troubled personal histories. Because they’ve lived lives full of trauma, many need extra support to take the next step into a more settled life.

“Our participants, because of their backgrounds, their rap sheets, their felony records and their traumatizing personal histories, when they come to RS Eden they have never been treated like human beings,” Hood said. “They’ve been treated like people who don’t have value to add to our community. They come to RS Eden as people who carry with them a lot of shame.”

Art and recovery

The art show is not juried, and is open to any of the some-1,600 individuals served by RS Eden each year.

Staff at the nonprofit see the benefits of art in recovery, and because of that, offer opportunities for structured and unstructured art therapy to all participants.

“There are individuals in our substance use and mental health treatment who are doing art therapy in session and are using art as a mechanism for healing,” Hood said. The organization also provides art supplies for any participant who asks, she added: “We see the benefit of art and want to make it possible for anyone to create.”

The exhibit’s opening night focused on visual art, but participants also had an opportunity to showcase their musical talents. Coleman Enockson, an RS Eden participant, played guitar while visitors mingled and learned more about the artists’ work.

Enockson, who has been incarcerated for possession of drugs and is now participating in a work-release program at RS Eden, said that music has helped him through hard times throughout his life. He always had an interest in music, he said, but was never able to learn how to play the guitar.

“I didn’t have the patience to learn the instrument when I was younger,” Enockson said. “Then, when I ended up in the slammer, I had to do five years, so I bought a guitar. I played every day for two years straight. I got pretty good.”

Enockson said his struggle with addiction is the source of many problems in his life.

“That’s what caused me all my trouble with the law and in every aspect of my life – not just with the law but in family and personal things as well.”

When one of his house managers at RS Eden saw Enockson playing the guitar, he asked if he’d be interested in playing at the opening. “I don’t really like playing in front of people too much,” Enockson said. “I have to force myself to do it. But I’d like to someday be able to play music and possibly make some money at it. I do it every day anyway. So I decided to play at the opening.”

Many participants like Chino and Enockson felt intimidated about participating, Hood said. Some even decided not to display their art. “There were participants who did a lot of art but were very nervous about participating or those who pulled out because they didn’t want to be the center of attention. The process of leading up to this show was a helpful tool in our work with folks.”

The experience was overwhelmingly positive for those who did participate, Hood said. “When participants stand by their art and folks say, ‘Tell me about your work,’ it is beautiful seeing them light up because they are actually getting the experience of, ‘Look how amazing you are,’” Hood said. “Last year, there is one gentleman who as in our halfway house on a long parole. His partner came in with his little daughter. She’s about four or five. She was just beaming with pride.”

For Chino, showing his work and explaining the process of its creation was a good opportunity to talk about the art that has helped him through so many tough moments in his life. His boxes featuring the Virgin of Guadalupe are particularly important, he said, because they highlight his Mexican heritage and illustrate the importance of his faith.

“Like everybody else, at certain times in my life, I felt like God has abandoned me,” he said. “But I also believe that he is constantly with us. He never abandons us.”

Chino said that faith, combined with his art, has helped him to stay on track in his recovery.

“I try to stay around other positive individuals and I ask God to try to keep me straight,”  Chino said. “Hopefully, I’ll be able to push forward and get myself back on track. Art really did help a lot for me when I was in prison and even more now. Whenever my anxiety goes up, I’ll do a sketch. It helps me to keep my balance.”