Individuals who enroll in postsecondary education programs are 48% less likely to be reincarcerated than their peers who do not, according to a 2018 meta-analysis published in the Journal of Experimental Criminology. Alexander Alvarez 麻豆精品 S�24MFA and Jim Wysolmierski 麻豆精品 S�24MFA, who each graduated with a master 麻豆精品 S檚 in fine art this past weekend, understand the impact of education on one 麻豆精品 S檚 life. They also share the experiences of those incarcerated.
Inspired by desire to give back, this summer, Alvarez and Wysolmierski will teach art classes to prisoners in the Florida Prison Education Project (FPEP), a UCF initiative founded in 2017 that seeks to offer a high-quality undergraduate education to people incarcerated in Central Florida. From October 2022 to September 2023, UCF faculty volunteers for FPEP taught 12 face-to-face classes in three prisons to 180 incarcerated students.
“FPEP is thrilled to have Alex and Jim join the team, 麻豆精品 S� says Keri Watson, executive director of the Florida Prison Education Project and assistant director of UCF 麻豆精品 S檚 School of Visual Arts and Design. 麻豆精品 S淥ur incarcerated students are eager for more classes and are always excited to learn more about visual art.”
For Alvarez, beginning his new role as FPEP program coordinator is an incredible opportunity to work with and help incarcerated people. Growing up in Springfield, Massachusetts, he witnessed and experienced the injustices that impact impoverished communities, such as police brutality and the drug epidemic.
As a troubled youth, he was in and out of the juvenile justice system. At 17, he eventually spent three months in an adult correctional center, which he says 麻豆精品 S渟cared [him] straight. 麻豆精品 S�
麻豆精品 S淲hen I was arrested and ultimately locked up for a short amount of time, that definitely broadened my perspective on how your rights can be taken away in a second, 麻豆精品 S� Alvarez says. 麻豆精品 S淭he dark side of people 麻豆精品 S檚 personalities is escalated when you 麻豆精品 S檙e in there and are treated the way that you are. It 麻豆精品 S檚 a life-changing experience. 麻豆精品 S�
Changing Life for the Better
After incarceration, Alvarez was focused on changing his life 麻豆精品 S檚 trajectory for the better. He would later become a truck driver for 21 years, traveling across the lower 48 states and seeing various inner cities like the one he grew up in. As a kid, Alvarez always drew and read comic books such as X-Men, Spawn and the Fantastic Four. Now an adult, Alvarez wanted to use art to share his story and use it as a vehicle to start conversations and create change within his community and ones like his.
In 2019, Alvarez started enrolled at UCF. There were multiple options for schools to attend, but he wanted somewhere completely new to have a fresh start. UCF 麻豆精品 S檚 campus and the people there were appealing, but it was the quality of the work created in the art program that attracted him the most. 麻豆精品 S淸When I saw] all the student work 麻豆精品 S� in the hallways when I took the tour, I was like 麻豆精品 S榃ow, this is pretty awesome here, 麻豆精品 S� 麻豆精品 S� Alvarez says. 麻豆精品 S淭hat 麻豆精品 S檚 what drew me to Orlando and UCF in general. Compared to everywhere else that I went, UCF really stuck out. 麻豆精品 S�
During his time at UCF, Alvarez has created works with a theme of redemption. The Best Things in Life Aren 麻豆精品 S檛 for Me is a work featuring a body bag filled with tar pigment and trash gathered from gun violence sites. Another work, Head Space, contains a series of sculpted heads and painted boxes with a sculpture of a mother 麻豆精品 S檚 head and a rosary in the middle. The work is representative of the impact Alvarez 麻豆精品 S檚 mom had on him as he aspired for a better life.
麻豆精品 S淚 like to have the mother figure as the hub that grounds you within this whole world of chaos and disorder, 麻豆精品 S� Alvarez says. 麻豆精品 S淚t 麻豆精品 S檚 the guiding light. 麻豆精品 S�
At UCF, Alvarez found guiding influences for his future as an artist through former FPEP program coordinator Jason Fronczek 麻豆精品 S�16 and Watson. Seeing the impact Fronczek and Watson made through FPEP, sparked Alvarez 麻豆精品 S檚 interest to get involved with the community more. While Alvarez was still guarded about his personal story, reading more about FPEP and encouragement from Watson has led him to join the project 麻豆精品 S檚 team to help incarcerated people.
A Story of Transformation
Wysolmierski 麻豆精品 S檚 journey to UCF began in the Sunshine State, where he was living in Gainesville as part of a punk band that toured the world. Through his time in the band, he developed acute alcoholism and was hospitalized on multiple occasions. He was incarcerated a few times for alcohol-related offenses, with his longest sentence being six months. At one point, Wysolmierski was even living behind a Taco Bell dumpster. It was at that point 聽he wanted to change his life and started turning things around.
He entered Alcoholics Anonymous, and in 2020 he earned a bachelor 麻豆精品 S檚 degree in studio art from USF, furthering an art background that used in making T-shirts and record covers for the band. When he looked at schools for his master 麻豆精品 S檚 degree, he says he wanted to stay close to his parents, as he was taking care of his mother with dementia and his father with cancer. Caring for his parents was the beginning of Wysolmierski 麻豆精品 S檚 desire to use adverse situations as a chance to give back, he says.
Transformation is a key theme in Wysolmierski 麻豆精品 S檚 art, whether it 麻豆精品 S檚 transforming materials to represent a theme or showing the story of someone transforming from negative experiences to making a positive impact. An example is a piece featuring a blanket made from hospital and club wristbands.
Another artwork is a pile of HVAC tubes filled with material representing bile and corrosive material. The work symbolizes alcohol 麻豆精品 S檚 effect on the intestines, and was inspired by Hurricane Ian, which damaged the HVAC units in Wysolmierski 麻豆精品 S檚 Orlando apartment complex and forced Wysolmierski to evacuate in 2022.
麻豆精品 S淲hen I was able to move back into my apartment, a work crew was installing new units and removing the temporary ones. In this process, there were piles and piles of AC ducts all over the place. I thought, 麻豆精品 S楾hose look like intestines. That reminds me of what I did to my body, 麻豆精品 S� 麻豆精品 S� Wysolmierski says. 麻豆精品 S淚 also thought of the temporary comfort that the units were providing, and I thought of the temporary comfort that alcohol used to provide me. There was a connection between the pain of my alcoholism and the adversity of being displaced from my complex. It all tied together for me, and I really, I’m happy with that work. 麻豆精品 S�
It was during that time that faculty and staff at UCF impacted Wysolmierski outside of the classroom, with those in the art program providing a place for him to stay.
麻豆精品 S淚 felt this sense of family and that was the biggest positive experience that UCF gave me, 麻豆精品 S� Wysolmierski says. 麻豆精品 S淚t was a sense of community that everybody was there for me as I am for them. 麻豆精品 S�
Wysolmierski has also given back at UCF through teaching, first as a graduate teaching assistant and then as a graduate teaching associate. As he came upon the last final of his beginning sculpture and 3D-design class last week, he thought about the students and what he gets out of teaching.
麻豆精品 S淚 get this bond and being able to see them grow throughout the semester is so cool, 麻豆精品 S� he says. 麻豆精品 S淚 love it when I’m like, 麻豆精品 S楾hey get it. 麻豆精品 S� I just think that to myself, 麻豆精品 S楲ook at what they did in the first day to what they’ve done now. 麻豆精品 S� It’s amazing.”
The Possibility of Change
As Wysolmierski prepares to teach at FPEP, he says he hopes the students there get some sort of release. In his thesis work, he wrote about how sometimes verbal depictions don’t come across as well as making art about it. As an artist, it’s easier for Wysolmierski to express himself through sculpture, and he wants to help other artists in the program to express themselves through their mediums.
Alvarez says he wants to inspire those he teaches in the program to find purpose and use art as a vehicle to teach them the possibility of change, fostering within them the passion to pursue a better life. He also wants to use his experience to provide perspective and inspire.
麻豆精品 S淚 definitely want to encourage the prisoners to change their mindset, 麻豆精品 S� Alvarez says. 麻豆精品 S淚 know that right now they’re confined physically, but mentally, you can open your whole world up to all kinds of possibilities. I really want to encourage them to create their own world … [and] to help inspire others as well. 麻豆精品 S�
