By Kate Mothes for Arts Midwest.
Broadcast version by Mike Moen for Wisconsin News Connection reporting for the Arts Midwest-Public News Service Collaboration
In a self-portrait titled “First Aid Kit” by DarRen Morris painted in 2019, the artist clutches a large, abstract object with fanned white bristles. At first difficult to recognize, the object in his arms is a giant paintbrush. Incarcerated within the Wisconsin Correctional System since the age of 17 and serving a life sentence, Morris clings to art as a survival tool, emphasizing that without it, he would not be able to endure the conditions of imprisonment.
“Art Against the Odds: Wisconsin Prison Art defines art making as not only a creative pastime but a life-saving tool of self-definition for those who are removed from society,” opens the preface of the exhibition’s catalog. The wide-ranging group exhibition, most recently on view at the Neville Public Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin, brings together work by artists incarcerated within the state’s correctional facilities as a way to counter assumptions about imprisoned individuals and the prison system itself.
Debra Brehmer, director of Portrait Society Gallery in Milwaukee, and curator of Art Against the Odds, traces the genesis of the exhibition to a very different project, yet one also focused on the impact of art-making where access to art is often scarce. The program, called On the Wing, met every Tuesday at the House of Peace, a local community center, to draw in sketchbooks.
“It was about gathering, drawing, experimenting, sharing stories, conversing, and building relationships across the divides of poverty and race,” Brehmer says. “Many conversations at the table touched on incarceration. My eyes were opened to the fact that if you are Black and poor in Milwaukee, you’ve had a friend, son, or relative in prison. It was shocking to me that this was such a normalized part of existence.”
Around this time, Brehmer began working with an incarcerated artist named M. Winston to exhibit his work in the gallery. Portrait Society works with artists who have been marginalized, ignored, dismissed, or discriminated against. “M. was a point of entry into the larger carceral world,” Brehmer says. “Exploring art made in Wisconsin prisons felt like a good COVID project, and so many inmates at that time were really suffering during lockdowns.”
Reconstructing a Sense of Being in the World
Winston, who grew up in Mississippi, is currently serving a 30-year sentence at Kettle Moraine Correctional Institution and has since become a friend and guide to Brehmer during her research. He makes vibrant acrylic paintings of landscapes, buildings, and abstract color fields, and his sculptures of miniature houses often evoke real places around Milwaukee, made with materials like paper, food boxes, and paint.
Numerous letters that the artist wrote from his cell, which are included in the exhibition catalog, elaborate on his love for walking, a grounding practice in Zen Buddhism, and observations of daily life separate from the outside world. In one letter, dated March 26, 2022 he writes:
This jail is a slave ship without the water. Do you know I have nothing but my mind to keep me going. I have art that may and may not tell my story. I do try hard to tell it. I think that art is something of a person’s soul, our days and nights come and go. But I can do a painting and tell why I did it and what I think it is and that will last forever. If you view art I have done over these long 20 years, you can bet I wasn’t here in the mind. I must do art each day. On some days, because of the size of the painting/drawing, I will do up to six. There’s so much I want to talk about, and I will in time. Let’s see where this ship takes me tomorrow.
Letters play a core role in the show, with an entire wall dedicated to handwritten notes—a small selection of hundreds sent to the gallery during the process of organizing the show. The display is accompanied by a table and an invitation for visitors to write a letter back to an artist from the show. Audio clips of the letters being read aloud are streamed on a loop through the gallery, a poignant backdrop to artworks that delve into each individual’s personal stories, challenges, and reflections.
An Emotional Outpouring
In January 2023, the first iteration of Art Against the Odds opened in the galleries of the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. “I can only say that the impact of the MIAD show was shocking,” Brehmer says. “We did not expect the attendance: 7,000 people in seven weeks. We did not expect the emotional outpouring. The gallery became a safe space for public conversations that people could not have otherwise.”
Brehmer, who curated the show with Portrait Society Gallery Manager Paul Salsieder, attributes much of the success of the show to the fact that it revolves around accomplishment in addition to the deeply important—yet often dismissed—role that art plays within society. “Art heals and focuses the maker in a space of meditation,” she says. “These artists who turn to art in prison—with no formal training for the most part—find rather quickly that it not only soothes their anxiety but takes them on a journey of expression and self-knowledge, and it builds pride and esteem.”
The visibility afforded to the artists in Art Against the Odds is significant because while the carceral world is hidden, it affects an incredible amount of people in society, from victims to family members to prison staff to social justice system workers and more. The U.S. currently has one of the world’s top incarceration rates—in 2018, it was the world’s highest. Today, approximately 531 of every 100,000 people are in a prison or jail. “Most of these individuals will be released back into the community,” Brehmer says. “If they lack self-esteem and skills, this transition will not be successful.”
Art Against the Odds provides a new lens through which to view the prison system and those living within it. “This is not to deny the pain inflicted by crime, nor the lingering impact on victims, but to privilege redemption and the potential expansiveness of the human spirit,” the catalog introduction continues. “This provides space for hope. Without hope, there is no humanity.”
Kate Mothes wrote this story for Arts Midwest.
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By Marilyn Odendahl for The Indiana Citizen.
Broadcast version by Joe Ulery for Indiana News Service reporting for the Indiana Citizen-Free Press Indiana-Public News Service Collaboration.
Assembled on a soundstage at Huntington University last week, Gov. Mike Braun, legislators and community officials were optimistic about the potential for more soundstages, more cameras, more lights, more action coming to Indiana as the state positions itself to become a go-to location for film and movie production.
The governor was in Huntington for a ceremonial signing of Senate Enrolled Act 306, which makes Indiana’s film and movie tax credits transferable and, therefore, attractive to out-of-state filmmakers. Leaders at the event said the new law will help grow the state’s digital media production industry, creating new jobs and bringing new money to existing businesses.
Braun did not see Indiana’s wooing of Hollywood as simply a star struck pipedream. Recounting a conversation he had had earlier this year, when Angelo Pizzo, who wrote and produced the film classics “Hoosiers” and “Rudy,” “was bemoaning” that he could no longer make movies like that in Indiana today, Braun said SEA 306 would enable the state to capture an opportunity that is coming.
“The hardest thing in business and in government is not to get stuck in a rut where you just think the same things are going to work in the future,” Braun said, noting that as a business owner, he was always “looking for new horizons, new things that needed to be done.”
Braun continued SEA 306 will help Indiana seize the moment and possibly exceed expectations. “We’re here,” he said. “We’re all dressed up and ready to go and you’re right at the forefront of what I think is going to be a great industry.”
Several states, like Georgia, Louisiana, Illinois and New York, have tax credits geared toward filmmakers and production companies. However, studies have shown movie tax credits, even when they are refundable or transferable, generate little, if any, economic boost. The subsidies offered as tax breaks to film companies have been found to increase movie productions, but the activity has had only a marginal impact on the states’ economies and, in fact, some states actually lost revenue. Moreover, the number of jobs created has been small.
Michael Hicks, professor of economics at Ball State University, was skeptical the now-transferable tax credit would entice movie producers and directors to start filming in Indiana. He said movie and television production companies choose sites for the attributes, such as scenery, that the particular location offers. Cost does not really factor into the decision-making process, when film professionals are identifying places to make the movie or episode.
Also, Hicks said, any movies that are filmed here will likely not have a huge or lasting economic effect on the state. The making of a movie does not spur new construction of hotels, restaurants or venues where people can gather, he said, so any increase in sales that local businesses notice when a film is being made in their community will evaporate when the production crew packs up and leaves town.
“You’re taking a lot of money out of the public coffers,” Hicks said of the film and movie production tax credits. “Other taxpayers are paying for this. They’re either paying for it directly or they’re subsidizing services that somebody else is using and what that ends up doing is generating a lot of costs for very little additional benefit.”
Enticing filmmakers to pick Indiana
Bill Konyha, president and CEO of the Regional Chamber of Northeast Indiana, is optimistic that SEA 306 will give the Hoosier State a starring role in motion pictures. He envisions not only production companies coming here to film, but also, eventually establishing a permanent presence by building movie studios in the state. All of that activity, he said, will create an economic boom by bringing jobs for local residents.
“It’s not a goal that’s going to happen tomorrow …,” Konyha said, “but it’s the opportunity to turn Indiana filmmaking back into … a meaningful, important industry.”
Senate Enrolled Act 306, which passed during the 2025 legislative session with bipartisan support, amended a 2022 state statute that established tax credits for films, documentaries, commercials, television shows, music videos or other similar media production. The Indiana Economic Development Corp. is charged with confirming the eligibility of the applicants and determining the amount of the tax credit.
Under SEA 306, that tax credit is now transferable to another individual or entity. A single credit may not exceed $250,000 and the total amount available between Jan. 1, 2026, when the law takes effect, and July 1, 2031, when the statute expires, is capped at $2 million.
Konyha explained transferability is the key to attracting movie making to Indiana. The 2022 statute was not enough incentive, because the benefit of the tax credit was limited to only those investors or companies based in Indiana. With the new legislation, he said, out-of-state film companies will be able to sell the tax credits to entities that actually pay taxes in Indiana and then use the equity from those sales to invest in film projects.
“The problem is the film companies are mostly out-of-state, and the tax credit that’s available is an Indiana tax credit,” Konyha said. “It has no value to anybody from out-of-state. So it has to be able to be sold or transferred or syndicated to have value for them.”
Supporters of SEA 306 pointed to Huntington University and its department of digital media arts, where students learn the behind-the-scenes film-making skills of recording and lighting, cinematography, editing and producing, and screenwriting. When the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out the internship opportunities in Los Angeles, two digital media arts faculty members, Lance Clark and Matthew Webb, created Forester Films, a film production company connected to the university, to give their students hands-on experience.
Forester Films has written, filmed and produced two movies, “A Carpenter’s Prayer” and “Tea on the Beach,” and is finishing a third, “Overhill Manor.” Clark, dean of the arts at Huntington University, described the films as “faith and family friendly” and said they tackle difficult topics like alcoholism, depression and dementia.
To make the movies, Forester Films has relied on industry professionals and Huntington alumni, while the students worked as interns. Clark said the actors, directors and crew members who have come to Indiana to shoot the three flicks have loved the community and enjoyed working in northeastern Indiana. Also, he said, business owners and local officials have been accommodating and helpful in offering locations to film.
Clark believes the transferable tax credit will lure filmmakers to Indiana. Most likely, large movie companies will start by filming a scene or two in the Hoosier State before undertaking a complete production here, he said. Independent film companies, he said, may be more comfortable to start doing entire movies in Indiana.
Forester Films raised about $2 million from donors and investors to produce its three feature-length motion pictures. Clark said his production company will be “first in line to apply in 2026 for the tax credit” and he anticipates other filmmakers will be lining up as well.
“It’s already helped us talk about financing for our next features, because people that are investors, they like to hear, ‘Oh, there’s a transferable tax credit,’” Clark said. “I think serious filmmakers have a good shot at it here. So it’s already helped have great, great conversations.”
Unsupported economic claims
Clark and his students created a set on the digital media art department’s soundstage as a special backdrop for Braun’s ceremonial bill signing. They filmed the governor walking to the desk, which was draped in black cloth and displayed the state seal, sitting down, signing the bill and then holding it up for the audience to see.
Production was quickly halted after the first take had started. The crew had discovered that the main prop – a ceremonial copy of SEA 306 – was still in the car. The second take appeared flawless.
Huntington Republican Sen. Andy Zay, along with his GOP colleagues, Sens. Travis Holdman, of Markle, and Kyle Walker, of Lawrence, authored SEA 306.
Speaking at the ceremonial bill signing, Zay said Indiana has a rich film history with movies such as “Breaking Away” produced and filmed in the state. SEA 306, he said, will change the tax culture so that movies can again be made in Indiana.
“The credit that we are passing begins to make those opportunities a reality moving forward,” Zay said. “So this is a great step of legislation, of work, where we sign something that doesn’t end something, but we sign something that begins something anew.”
Zay then pointed to Georgia as an example of a state that has seen its movie industry blossom with the introduction of tax incentives. He claimed the Peach State is realizing a return of $6 to $7 for every $1 spent through the film tax credit.
A 2019 policy brief examining the economic impact of the film industry on Georgia’s economy tells a different story. The report from Kennesaw State University blamed “incredible multipliers and dubious data” with inflating economic claims that movie making had a $9.5 billion impact on the state in 2018 and created more than 92,000 jobs.
Instead, the report found, Georgia has approved more than $4 billion in tax credits between 2008 and 2018, while the film industry has contributed about $3 billion to the state’s $588 billion gross domestic product, which represents 0.5% of the state’s economy. Also, the industry directly employs about 16,000 workers, but the report highlighted that assuming every film job is the result of the tax credits, the cost equates to $64,000 to $119,000 in tax credits per job.
Most importantly, the tax credits are hitting Georgians in their wallets. The report noted the $800 million in tax credits given to filmmakers in 2018 represents about $220 per household that Georgia residents could have spent themselves on goods and services in their state.
Hicks, the Ball State economist, called the film tax credit “Republican socialism,” because the GOP is giving money to businesses. The consequence, he said, is the state will be giving a tax break and have less money to spend on roads, bridges and emergency response systems to warn about floods.
“I guess I’m just a little puzzled on the economic argument for desiring some sort of economic activity that doesn’t pay taxes,” Hicks said.
Marilyn Odendahl wrote this article for The Indiana Citizen.
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By Jonathan Feakins for Arts Midwest.
Broadcast version by Judith Ruiz-Branch for Illinois News Connection reporting for the Arts Midwest-Public News Service Collaboration
"It's a bit of a grandma-core hobby," Tierney Brosius admits.
But whether at her children's soccer tournaments or organizing an "Entomoloknitting Circle" at the Entomological Society of America's annual conference, Dr. Brosius has found that insect-themed needlecraft can serve not just as an artistic outlet, but as an organic, social means of science communication.
"I love insects in fashion; they're often used [for] being pretty, but also scary," she explains. "And I think that fashion designers often reach to insects because of that duality. There's tension there."
For the past decade, Dr. Brosius has hung her hat-and a growing collection of bespoke, hand-knitted vests-as a professor of biology at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. But she's also built a budding reputation as the entomological fashion maven under the moniker, "Dr. Beetle."
Her Instagram account documents sartorial projects that include a vest festooned with Salt Creek tiger beetles (the subject of Brosius's PhD), or a cocoon-style coat that commemorates 2024's double cicada brood.
Her artistic outreach, however, extends beyond the closet. Inside Augustana's Hanson Hall of Science, a 40 foot-long wall now hosts a vibrant, larger-than-life "Beetles of Illinois Identification Mural." Every species pictured-in all of their exoskeleton-ed wonder-were collected by Dr. Brosius and her undergraduates over the course of a single field season.
Wendy DesChene, an artist and professor at Auburn University in Alabama, collaborated with Dr. Brosius to create the mural. She met "Dr. Beetle" years ago while touring Augustana with PlantBot Genetics, a "satirical biotech company." As their friendship grew, including on-brand gift exchanges (Brosius once knitted her a pair of moth mittens), DesChene proposed working together to make a mural a reality.
"As an artist, it's hard to find scientists who don't belittle arts, or don't think of us as a true partnership," DesChene says. "I really wanted to work with somebody who I know as a peer, and who treats me and what I bring to the table as equal."
Dr. Brosius, meanwhile, had no such hang-ups. "I think that's why I interact with artists that deal with insects," she says. "They invite people to be curious. And that fear and hesitation can unfold into this sense of wonder: 'Oh my gosh, I never knew.' Even a drain fly, right? The silliest little thing ... but if you really get up close, they're like little teddy bears with wings."
The professor is especially fond of watching these transformations happen in real-time, in the class she teaches for non-majors. These are students who often enroll in the hopes of simply snagging a required biology credit, but who leave with a newfound love for nature's more chitinous creepy-crawlies. A few have gone so far as to become professional entomologists themselves.
"And I think that's what's so great about insects," she says, "because it's a great analogy for life: you can be a little tense and fearful, and it's probably because you don't know enough about it. Once you start to peel back the layers, that fear can fall away. And you're left with appreciation and love."
Jonathan Feakins wrote this story for Arts Midwest.
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