04/28/08 - Skakel says art is a way for him to communicate with his son, family and friends and helps him cope with life in prison.

The drawing shows the boy wearing a T-shirt that reads "love" and surrounded by colorful animals. A nearby skeleton with sunglasses symbolizes death, but two doves overhead depict triumph over death, said Jeffrey Greene, manager of Community Partners in Action, the nonprofit group that runs the program.

"He's expressing that he himself is not dead and that his incarceration does not negate the fact that he is alive and he is still part of his son's life," Greene said. "There's all this beauty but there are all these dangers as well."

An eyeball in the sky symbolizes God watching over the boy, but a lamb is shown next to a lion.

Skakel art will be on display in Hartford
WTNH, CT

Prison art, worked-up by Michael Skakel, will be on display this week at a Hartford exhibit....

... part of program that helps inmates be creative while locked-up. Skakel is doing 20-years-to life for the 1975 death of his Greenwich neighbor Martha Moxley.

Please Also See:

Kennedy cousin Skakel, other prison inmates, turning to art
The Associated Press

...In another piece, Skakel drew a comic strip about the loss of innocence. A young boy wants to play football, but his friends are not home. Then he runs into someone who gives him marijuana to smoke.

Many states offer such programs, but Connecticut has one of the most extensive, Greene said. The program keeps a permanent collection of the art work made over the years, publishes an annual journal and runs special projects such as using art by inmates to educate others about AIDS and drugs.

Two studies in the 1980s found such programs reduced disciplinary problems and recidivism among inmates, according to the William James Association, a nonprofit which runs a program in California.

"It just works on so many different levels," said Laurie Brooks, executive director of the William James Association. "It kind of transforms some of the destructive tendencies they have into a more productive approach to life and a more positive outlook on themselves."...

Kennedy cousin Skakel turns to art in
7Online.com

...One of his drawings that will be displayed next week is of his nine-year-old son, George. Another is a comic strip about the loss of innocence.

The art program is run by the nonprofit group Community Partners in Action and costs about $100,000 a year. State and private foundations pay for it....

Inmates' Artwork, Including Skakel's, To Be Shown
Hartford Courant

At first glance, the painting "Faith for George" is perplexing.

Who is the boy in the LOVE T-shirt and why is he in some wild place surrounded by animals including a lion, wart hog, zebra and lamb? Why is a skeletal death figure staring at him? And what's the unblinking eye in the sky, above the setting red sun?

The work, one of 333 pieces to be exhibited next month in a Hartford show of artwork by 152 Connecticut inmates, makes sense once its creator, Michael Skakel, explains it.

"It's about my communicating my trust that God will look after my beloved son in a dangerous world while I cannot protect him, comfort him or be with him at this time. The 'Eye in the Sky' represents God's all knowing and watchful eye always looking over George for me," Skakel said this week in a written communication from MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution.....

======================================

Please send your comments, news tips and press releases to
GreenwichRoundup@gmail.com