It’s not just a house – it’s “gingerbread architecture.”That’s how a group of female offenders at the Utah State Prison describe a pair of ornate and detailed sceneries they recently crafted over the course of just a couple weeks.
Since mid-October, a group of fewer than 10 women have been collaborating to design, bake and build two edible and aesthetically wondrous works of art. The first depicts a mountainous scene, complete with the balloon house from the Disney/Pixar movie “Up,” and intends to honor the Boy Scouts of America’s 100th anniversary. The second is a massive and intricate model of the Notre Dame Cathedral inspired by “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.”
The exquisite pieces will be featured in an annual gingerbread house competition hosted by the Boy Scouts of America and the PTA. Following an awards presentation and three-day event, the culinary creations will be auctioned to benefit Utah children through Learning for Life character education and the Utah PTA Arts Education Fund.
This is the ninth time women in the Utah State Prison have participated in the Gingerbread Festival. Prison Lt. Rod Villamil, who is once again spearheading the effort, said onlookers distracted by the creations’ beauty are always shocked to learn that inmates built the awe-inspiring works of art.
The women said they are thrilled for the opportunity to work together and do something creative with the time they spend in prison.
“In an institutional environment, the overall goal is homogenization. You try to toe the line,” said Carole Alden, a team member and artist who fashioned the characters depicted in the scenes using bread dough, fondant and food coloring. “But something like this really inspires people’s creativity. I’m grateful that we’re allowed to do this.”
And Janette Snyder said she gained skills and learned a lot about the craft of designing and building through the journey to create the gingerbread projects.
“I look forward to it, because you really form a meaningful association with these other women,” Snyder said.
Said Deb Brown: "It's the legal great escape."
The group used gingerbread, fondant, hard candies, frosting and food dye along with other materials such as lights. They worked in different shifts – often late into the nights and early mornings – whenever they could fit the project into their out of cell time. That meant juggling the artistic effort along with their usual classes, treatment or other programs.
So what was the hardest part of the whole project? The group notes they faced humidity that warped the shapes and bulged the windows of the cathedral. The group constructed a house, mountains, rocks, merit badges, cathedral walls, flying buttresses, bell towers, a steeple, cobblestones and snow flakes from gingerbread. Ailine Tauteoli notes they handcrafted trees, leaves and flowers from fondant as well as stained-glass windows from hard tack candy and finishing touches with royal icing. But Deb Brown insists the prize goes to the balloons on the “Up” scene. Though it appears to be gently floating an entire home through the air, the mass of fondant balloons feel more like a lead brick, making it difficult to steady the stick that served as a stand.
Eventually the group finished assembling all the separate parts and carefully pieced them together to form two masterpieces. In the end, the women said they were shocked by how coherently all the pieces and personalities came together.
A first-timer to the gingerbread project, Silia ‘Olive said she came in with a lot of anxiety and didn’t want to make a mistake. But after observing, baking and contributing to the project, she notes she’ll “really be ready for next time.”
As he thumbed through a photo album of past projects, Villamil pointed to multicultural projects, castles, dragons, and an impressive depiction of Hogwarts from the “Harry Potter” books and movies. But the inmates note that he’s never satisfied and continues to raise the bar every year, ushering in a new challenge.
He and fellow officers still face the daunting task of meticulously transporting the projects down to Orem for the festival coming up on Nov. 12, 13 and 15.
The women pieced together a brief written explanation to accompany each of the projects, including praise for supportive prison staff, namely Villamil, Deputy Warden Jerry Pope and Captain Mary Ann Reding. They also wrote a brief educational history of the Notre Dame de Paris and the Boy Scouts of America.
The women add that the gingerbread depictions are “ a small gesture…extended to society with sincere hearts…This is one step on our journey to becoming the women we are capable of being.”
Participating inmates:
-Sally Krivanek
-Barbara Curvin
-Carole Alden
-Silia 'Olive
-Deb Brown
-Janette Snyder
-Ailine Tauteoli
Photos: (Above) Barbara Curvin, left, and Carole Alden pose next to the gingerbread scene from the movie "Up."
*UPDATE* On June 23, 2010, a record 184 inmates graduated from the Central Utah Academy at the Central Utah Correctional Facility in Gunnison, Utah. This figure was up 78 graduates over the 2009 number - a nearly 74 percent increase.
DRAPER, Utah — Prisoners built it, and a handful of Utah Department of Corrections employees added the finishing touches.
The modest rambler, just off Orem’s 1200 North and State Street, now hosts a family that had been suffering from health and credit issues and was stuck in a substandard and unsafe apartment. And it all started with an unlikely crew of prison inmates. For several months, they constructed this place for the family to call home.
Over the course of those months, select groups of the state’s lowest-risk offenders were transported daily to and from the Orem home-building site under the supervision of Department of Corrections officers. The crews consisted of convicted drug and property offenders – all who readily acknowledge their mistakes and wish to start anew. By the end of the project, the inmate workers had learned valuable skills that very well could help them land permanent jobs as soon as they finished serving their time in prison.
Inmate Ron Eckhardt has been locked up since 2002. He had no experience in construction when he began building the home in January. But by the time it was finished, he knew how to roof and side a house.
“These are going to be some good skills that I plan on using when I get out,” Eckhardt said, noting that he is slated for a November parole date and would like to start a real estate business when he is released. “This whole experience has helped prepare me for life back in society.”
Eckhardt said he was shocked the first time he traded prison doors, handcuffs and barbed-wire fences for blue skies and a tool box.
Fellow inmate Kevin Strong said expects he will become an electrician or a plumber when he is released at the end of November. Noting that he plans to stay out of prison, Strong said being motivated and getting a job are the biggest challenges he faces – but he anticipates this home building project will help him battle both of these underlying issues.
The inmates were hired on to the prison’s home-building positions through Utah Correctional Industries and paid a stipend of approximately $1 per hour. They were regularly evaluated to mirror a real-world work environment.
Though the home was formally handed over to the families during a ribbon-cutting ceremony last month, a large dirt mound has sat outside ever since. Several Department of Corrections employees will volunteer their time on Friday to polish off the project by landscaping the front yard. The workers will either use their day off to work on the project, or they will donate leave hours to spend time away from the office.UCI REACH boss Kelly Willey noted that most of the inmates made just one mistake in life, and they’re all getting out of prison at some point so it’s best to prepare them for that date.
Habitat For Humanity Director Kena Mathews awarded the group a special honor at a recent ribbon-cutting ceremony and noted, “This is just an example of good people coming together to provide for these families.”
The service project is part of the Department’s 2010 Corrections Week, focused on “paying it forward.” The Department has organized several charitable drives throughout the week and has encouraged its hard-working staff to donate free time away from the job to help their community – whether through official Department events, or their individual efforts.
During the week, Corrections employees also donated blood to MountainStar Blood Services and the American Red Cross, held raise money for the Special Olympics, and framed and sheet-rocked a second home in conjunction with Habitat For Humanity.
What are UCI and REACH?
Utah Correctional Industries gives state inmates on-the-job training experience while providing products and services to public agencies. These jobs provide offenders the experience they need to lead healthy and productive lifestyles when they leave the prison and re-enter society. The jobs also maintain a safer prison environment by replacing idle time with productive activity. Offenders must be hired by UCI, have a parole date within three years, and have demonstrated extended, exceptional behavior while in the institution to earn the privilege of leaving the prison to work on off-site projects. UCI is completely self-supported, meaning any income generated by the goods and services goes back toward funding the program itself. UCI provides everything from furniture and clothing to signs and homes. All of the work either matches or exceeds industry standards.
The Rehabilitation through Affordably Constructed Housing (REACH) project builds homes for organizations such as Habitat For Humanity and the Utah Housing Corporation. The group often builds homes on-site at the prison and ships them out. REACH has built three homes for Habitat For Humanity and more than 30 for the Utah Housing Corporation.
(TOP: Corrections Executive Director Tom Patterson and Central Utah Correctional Facility Maintenance Crew member Bud Park haul buckets and wheelbarrows full of dirt to plant trees as part of a Habitat For Humanity project.)
(MIDDLE: Draper Prison Warden Steve Turley, Corrections Executive Director Tom Patterson and Training Academy Director Dennis Hutchinson install sheetrock in a home as part of a Habitat For Humanity project.)
(BOTTOM: Corrections Deputy Director Mike Haddon and Training Coordinator Kurt Candalot place sheetrock in a home as part of a Habitat For Humanity project.)
