Join us for a conversation with multidisciplinary artist Gary Tyler, whose moving textile work “In Memoriam of An Ashanti Warrior, 1996” was recently acquired by the city of Santa Monica and is now featured at City Hall. Tyler is joined by Isabelle Lutterodt and Sabra Williams in a free-ranging conversation about art, activism and resilience.
Gary Tyler is a fiber artist, currently living and working in Los Angeles, California. In 1974, at the age of 16, Gary Tyler was wrongly convicted of murder and placed on death row at Angola State Penitentiary in Louisiana. He endured nearly 42 years there, during which the US Supreme Court ruled his sentencing unconstitutional and was finally released in 2016. While incarcerated, Tyler participated in the prison hospice program, where he mastered the art of quilting, and chaired the prison drama club for almost three decades, using the transformative power of the arts to confront the challenges of incarceration.
Now residing in Los Angeles, Tyler dedicates his life to the visual and dramatic arts as tools to foster community and heal the scars of mass incarceration. Tyler is the 2024 Frieze Impact Prize winner, a 2024 Center for Art & Advocacy Fellow, and a 2019 and 2020 Art Matters Awardee. His work is in the collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C and the City of Santa Monica Art Fund. https://www.garytylerstudio.com/
Isabelle Lutterodt brings over two decades of experience working in both community arts and art gallery/museum environments. In her previous roles as the Deputy Director of the California African American Museum (CAAM) and Art Center Director of Barnsdall Art Park, Lutterodt organized exhibitions and projects centering the stories and voices that illustrate the diversity of lived experiences in California. She currently serves on the board of the Sacatar Foundation based in Bahia, Brazil.
Sabra Williams has received international acclaim for her work as an actor and host. She is founder of The Actors' Gang Prison Project and co-founder of Creative Acts. She is a member of The Independent Shakespeare Company, LA ensemble. Williams was honored to be named a “Champion of Change” by President Obama and has received a British Empire Medal for services to the Arts & Prison Reform by Queen Elizabeth. She is a Visiting Lecturer at UCLA and an Adjunct Professor at USC, a Bellagio Rockefeller Resident Fellow, a Pamela Krasney Moral Courage Fellow at The Mesa Refuge, and an in-demand speaker on justice and arts issues. Her first book, Beauty in the Beast: The Power of the Arts Behind Bars is on its way. www.sabrawilliamsacts.com and www.creativeacts.us.
