Art Museum Brings Fairfield U. Faculty Together to Discuss Incarceration in the U.S., Oct. 21

Press release

FAIRFIELD—The Fairfield University Art Museum will present a faculty roundtable on Tuesday, Oct. 21 at 5 p.m. placing Fairfield University faculty in conversation around issues surrounding incarceration in the United States. The event will take place in the Dolan School Event Hall.

Presented in conjunction with the Museum’s fall 2025 exhibition Stitching Time: The Social Justice Collaboration Quilts Project and Give Me Life: CPA Prison Arts Program (Walsh Gallery, September 12-December 13, 2025), the event will take place in the Dolan School of Business Event Hall on Fairfield’s campus.

The University faculty panel will include Don Sawyer, PhD (Vice President of Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging); Gregg Caruso, PhD (Director, Waide Center for Applied Ethics); Sonya Huber (Professor, English Creative Writing), and Kevin O’Brien, S.J. (Vice Provost, Executive Director, Fairfield Bellarmine). The group of professors will share their unique perspectives—both disciplinary and personal.

To register please visit: Faculty Roundtable: Incarceration in the U.S.

About the Exhibition: Stitching Time features 12 quilts created by men who are incarcerated in the Louisiana State Penitentiary, also known as Angola Prison. These works of art, and accompanying recorded interviews, tell the story of a unique inside-outside quilt collaboration. The exhibition focuses our attention on the quilt creators, people often forgotten by society when discussing the history of the U.S. criminal justice system. Also on view in the gallery will be Give Me Life, a selection of works from women artists presently or formerly incarcerated at York Correctional Institution, a maximum-security state prison in Niantic, Conn., courtesy of Community Partners in Action (CPA). The CPA’s Prison Arts Program was initiated in 1978 and is one of the longest-running projects of its kind in the United States. Founded in 1875, CPA is celebrating 150 years of working within the criminal justice system. For more information, visit www.fairfield.edu/museum/stitching-time.

Additional Upcoming Exhibition Programming:

Virtual Gallery Talk: Maureen Kelleher, co-founder of The Social Justice Collaboration Quilts Project
Wednesday, November 12, 5-6 p.m.
Online

Family Day: Making Meaning with Quilts
Saturday, November 15, 12:30-2 p.m., and 2:30-4 p.m. (two sessions)
Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts Lobby
Registration required; ages 4-10

Quilting Bee Demo with Peace by Piece: The Norwalk Community Quilt Project
Saturday, December 6, 2-4 p.m.
Walsh Gallery and Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts Lobby

Lizzy Rockwell and the Peace by Piece quilters of Norwalk will provide a live demonstration of a quilting bee; attendees can also contribute a square to our community quilt with provided supplies.