On Friday, July 20th, I headed by car with a trunk laden full of artwork to the Marin County Public Defenders’ office (Room 139; 1st Floor within the Marin Civic Center in San Rafael) to rotate artwork from last year’s “Art Escape at Alcatraz” show. If you recall, on April 9th, with the help of custodial engineer - Tom, we installed 12 pieces of original framed artwork all created by incarcerated artists from around the country. I promised to make this a rotating art exhibit and was bringing fresh new pieces to install, but desperately needed help. Tom was not available, but two eager and willing Summer 2108 Public Defender Interns were ‘Johnny on the spot’: Priscilla Cardenas (a lovely vivacious High School student soon to enter her Junior year) and smart and savvy, Krishna Menon (who recently graduated from High School and by Fall will be entering his first year of college on the East Coast).
I give them both a lot of credit. Their assistance was invaluable in time saving efforts, as well as feedback as to aesthetic placement of the art. And, we succeeded to fit all 12 new pieces of art on the outer public office space walls. Good job!
If this wasn’t enough, you can imagine to my surprise and delight, that the Marin County Office of the Public Defender July 16th Newsletter (Vol. 1; Edition 3) featured P.A.T.H. ‘s precious art exhibit there. When I first connected with Public Defender, Jose H., Varela about P.A.T.H. and sharing the artwork, his response was: “Leslie, this looks like the start of a beautiful friendship. A blatant steal from Casablanca but what the heck”.
And, just the other day, Deputy Public Defender, Carol Farrer commented: “The artwork in the lobby is outrageously great. So meaningful to see and read the stories behind the art. Thank you for your time and dedication to showing the world the humanity, beauty and talent in all of us (well, I guess some of us have much more artistic talent than others!)”.
So, if you happen to be in the vicinity of the Marin Civic Center (Frank Lloyd Wright building), please take a few minutes to stop by their office to take in the show. Thanks, always for appreciation, love and support.
Blessings,
Leslie Lakes, Founder/Director
NOTE: Priscilla and Krishna are each standing next to their respective favorite pieces of art in this show.