The project, completed this month, is the result of a unique partnership between Pelican Bay State Prison and the University and part of a successful initiative led by the Prison Arts Collective (PAC). Based at San Diego State University with a chapter at Cal Poly Humboldt, PAC provides arts programming to correctional institutions in California.
Launched in summer 2024, the effort connected two groups inside Pelican Bay: one who painted a mural inside their gymnasium, and another who designed the University mural soon to be installed on campus.
The latter design was then painted by students and community members in Humboldt. The mural depicts an individual experiencing incarceration working through a program called Project Rebound at College of the Redwoods and Cal Poly Humboldt, and finally being released from prison.
Project Rebound is a California State University program that supports the higher education and reintegration of formerly incarcerated individuals. By connecting students to resources and support systems, Project Rebound helps break cycles of incarceration, boasting a less than 1% recidivism rate among its participants.
The Cal Poly Humboldt Art department has played a foundational role in this collaboration. Since 2021, the department has operated a PAC chapter, regularly providing art instruction for incarcerated individuals at Pelican Bay. This mural, which will be installed outside of the Project Rebound office in Nelson Hall East, is one of several public art projects the department has undertaken over the past two years. The mural also comes two years after Cal Poly Humboldt’s Reese Bullen Gallery exhibition of work by incarcerated artists from Pelican Bay through the PAC program.
The mural itself came to life through the efforts of many hands. Art Education students Alexia Friedman and Alicia Rosales primed the boards, and painting was done by Kinesiology major Mariah Kirkpatrick. A host of faculty, staff, and students—including PAC Coordinator Erin Austin, Art Education Professor Jim Woglom, and others—helped with logistics, supplies, and design transfers. Mark Taylor with Project Rebound provided expertise and time coordinating the effort with the artists at the University and Pelican Bay campuses.
“The artists wanted to depict how Project Rebound helps people work toward education, rehabilitation, and release,” says Taylor.
But this mural is more than a finished product—it’s a powerful statement on the importance of human dignity and transformation.
“People in California State Prisons live in demoralizing, dehumanizing spaces—bare gray concrete walls that reinforce the immutability of their conditions,” Woglom says. “The act of changing even a small part of that environment through art can uplift not only those painting it but the broader prison community as well. And by bringing their work to outside spaces like our campus, we amplify their voices and stories.”
Looking ahead, the work continues. Woglom plans to engage in more mural projects at Pelican Bay and Corcoran State Prison this summer, with hopes of expanding to other institutions in the future.
“When people who are incarcerated are afforded the opportunity to express themselves through art, a mural becomes not just paint on concrete, but a testament to humanity and hope. That’s just one example of the transformative impact of education when Cal Poly Humboldt partners with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.” says Jenn Capps, , provost and vice president for Academic Affairs.
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