From the Inside Looking Out : Art: Inmates’ creations featured in an intriguing exhibit at the University Art Gallery through Saturday.

On the outside, the eight-foot-tall cell is covered with penciled poems, signatures and scrawled life stories. Inside, glimpsed through a window covered with narrow bars, are personal icons from the inmates who created this work of art: an angelic figure carved out of soap, a broken razor on a string and an ornate frame made out of folded cigarette packages.

The cell, which was made out of cardboard prison lunch boxes from the Soledad Correctional Training Facility, is part of an intriguing display of prison art being shown through Saturday at the University Art Gallery at California State Polytechnic University at Pomona.

The show, titled “Icons, Altars and Altered Images,” includes the cell, a large American Indian rug emblazoned with symbols crafted by inmates from the California Institution for Women at Frontera, and many smaller baskets and boxes that contain the personal statements of the inmate-artists who created them.

Some of the inmate artists have committed violent crimes. The people who work with them in a state program called Arts-in-Corrections say they have redeeming qualities that art helps bring out.

“This (show) was a pretty far reach for a lot of (the inmates),” said Kim Kaufman, who coordinates the art classes at the Frontera women’s prison. “Most of them want to replicate an ideal world. They’ve suffered so much, it’s very painful for them to put themselves out into their art.”

One small altar, by inmate Cathline McDonald, features a graffiti-scrawled brick wall. Other altars include beads, feathers, pictures of family members, religious symbols and some violent imagery.

“The idea of icons was a hard one for a lot of the inmates. Catholics thought they were sacrilegious, others thought maybe we were trying to put voodoo spells on people,” Kaufman said. “What we tried to do was get them to make something that would embody their spiritual values and their personal values.”

Getting the inmates to put their feelings into their art is a far cry from traditional prison yard art, dominated by rigidly copied gang graffiti and stylistic tattoos, said Mercedes Gutierrez-McDermid, assistant manager of the Arts-in-Corrections program for the state.

Fitting in with the other inmates and going along with the crowd is important for prisoners, she said. But creativity is also important.

“The way (inmates) alter their clothing and their bodies is a way of saying, ‘This is who I am.’ There’s something about locking people up that makes them creative. That’s especially true when you lock up Americans because of our need to express ourselves as individuals,” she said.

Blatant gang symbols or words are banned from the inmates’ art, she said, but each prison’s art facilitator is given the latitude to conduct the classes as that person wishes, exploring various kinds of visual media as well as theater, dance, poetry and even juggling.

The arts program was founded in 1976 and is operating in 20 state prisons. It will expand to 23 shortly, Gutierrez-McDermid said.

With a $2.1-million annual budget, the arts program has survived state funding cuts, Gutierrez-McDermid said. That’s because it has proven to be cost-effective. Studies done in 1983 and 1987 showed that inmates who participated in a voluntary art class for more than six months had fewer disciplinary problems while incarcerated and had a significantly lowered chance of returning to prison after their release, she said.

Although the 300 artists who teach in California’s prisons are not therapists, they say they often become neutral listeners for the inmates to confide in. “A tremendous healing process occurs just from doing the art,” said Rosalie Friis-Ross, who teaches basketry, fiber art and papermaking part-time at the women’s prison.

The art studios in the prisons often become like sacred ground, protected by the inmates at all costs, the teachers said. One art teacher told of being terrified when a power outage occurred while she was teaching at a men’s prison. But rather than attacking her, her students formed a circle around her to protect her and the art supplies from harm until the lights were restored.

The artists who teach in the program are put through safety training and background checks before they are approved and their materials must pass inspections before they can bring them into their classes. Still, a prison setting can be a difficult place for an artist.

“I remember the first time I walked into the prison with sweaty palms and a pounding heart. Going through the metal detectors, hearing doors slam shut, seeing groups of women looking at me, it was scary,” said part-time jewelry-making teacher Marlene Pou.

But Kaufman said she can see parallels between the inmates and the artists. “A lot of (the inmates) are very creative,” she said. “Like them, artists traditionally stand out in society and do things differently, but hopefully in a positive way.”

THE EXHIBIT “Icons, Altars and Altered Images,” an exhibit of prison artwork sponsored by the California Arts-in-Corrections program, is now on display at the University Art Gallery, California State Polytechnic University Pomona.

The show, assembled by Carol Newborg, community outreach coordinator for the state program, is curated by University Art Director Stanley Wilson.

The campus is at 3801 W. Temple Ave., Pomona, and the gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday, noon to 4 p.m.

The exhibit is free and on display through Saturday.