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Brush With the Law

Brush With the Law uses the visual arts in community-based beautification projects throughout the Philadelphia metropolitan area with a focus on Montgomery County. Projects are led by professional artists who create together with socially marginalized people (such as the incarcerated, parolees/probation, at-risk youth, and those struggling with addiction) to create public art. The purpose is to inspire meaningful changes in participants’ self-esteem and provide new skills that can lead to better employment opportunities, while enabling local communities to work with and come to better understand the challenges of these populations. Brush with the Law seeks to help socially marginalized individuals reconnect with the community through collaborative creative art projects. We believe that by working on projects that serve the community, marginalized individuals and community members start to understand and recognize one another as human beings.

Brush With the Law
This is Part I - a short tutorial on how to make paper beads. It does not include how to glaze the beads once rolled. Part II on glazing and drying will be uploaded soon.
Cody Stuhltrager , a recently released prisoner of SCI-Phoenix (formerly Graterford) who spent 20 years incarcerated, sent this video as a gift to BWTL director, Maria Maneos . Maria and Cody met about 5 years ago while she was teaching art at SCI-Graterford. The song, "Watching the Wheels" by John Lennon, is something she referenced several times over the years, during class or while having Zoom meetings together. Her love for the song stems from a lyric line with a direct reference to Plato's Allegory of the Cave. When I tell ‘em that I'm doin’ fine WATCHING SHADOWS ON THE WALL Don't you miss the big time boy You’re no longer on the ball… 🎼 🎼 🎼 🎼 🎼 🎼 🎼 The shadows on the cave wall represent what we perceive, and the allegory suggests that truth is beyond what we perceive. It is the idea that reality is not what we individually see, observe, or measure … but what we can comprehend in some collective, unified way. What is extremely interesting and profound — aside from Cody’s playing and singing — is the newfound meaning imbued by Cody’s experience: After 20 years in prison, after 20 years of relative ignorance of the larger world, his redemption, his bliss, and the discovery of a new self render him no longer a shadow on a wall. Cody obtained his Bachelor of Arts from Villanova University while incarcerated. He was released December 7th, 2021.
5,535 clear glassine baggies have been stuffed with a one-inch crystal bead to represent each person who lost their battle to heroin/opiate addiction in Pennsylvania alone in 2017. Each of these crystal-filled baggies have been strung onto various lengths of monofilament (30# Fishing Line) and gently dangle from above. The artist, Maria Maneos and various participants including: those who are in recovery from addiction, some who are in active addiction, friends and family of those who have lost a loved one to this disease, people who have been assigned to her nonprofit program titled- Brush with the Law – with community service hours to fulfill in Montgomery County, PA due to dui’s or other crimes that are associated with addiction, and high school students from the Ambler, PA area have all worked together on stuffing the baggies with the crystal beads and then stringing all of the baggies onto the various lines of monofilament to create this beautifully, horrific sculpture to illuminate and bring awareness to this epidemic affecting so many around the nation. It's one thing to hear the numbers, but a whole other experience to see them.
Pennsylvania Art fo the State Winner Maria Maneos for the sculpture chandelier titled 5535-2017. The number 5535 is the amount of people who died from heroin overdoses in PA during the year of 2017. There is a crystal bead stuffed into 5535 glassine baggies that were strung onto monofilament and hung from the ceiling to display a beautiful looking crystal sculpture that seemed like a rainfall of light, it wasn't till one understood what the sculpture stood for that it became captivating.
TERMINAL is a song written about Death by Incarceration (DBI) or also known as Life Without Parole. Pennsylvania, where these two inmates, Cody Stuhltrager and Robert LaBarr who wrote this song are housed, is a state that enforces sentences of life without parole or death by incarceration. This is a short preview of the song and video. Please like and share if you can... The video is being developed by Brush With the Law artist and director, Maria Maneos. TERMINAL By: Robert LaBarr and Cody Stuhltrager (inmates at SCI Phoenix - aka Graterford) Sung by artist Andrew Lipke of Philadelphia, Pa Video being created by BWTL director and artist Maria Maneos ***Facebook automatically trims video longer than 1minute, so 26 seconds of the video is missing... it’s also on our Instagram page with the ending intact 👍🏼👌🏼 Beginning lyrics: Get up when you fall, that’s what they always told me destructive patterns drawn, got caught up in the fold blind and reckless paths, fusses burning slowly destined for a crash, mourning and confusion I wish these wounds would heal But it’s terminal, a spiraling distress, a never answered why? terminal, it’s one life laid to rest and another cast aside it’s the end of the line
Adding guarded edge for puring resin onto mosaic table top
old table headed to landfill upcycled with beautiful glass, tiles and resin by brush with the law artists and community service volunteers
Brush With the Law had the opportunity to connect with the Peer Support Recovery Ministry program @newhanoverlutheranchurch @nhelchurch around beautifying their exterior walls. This past Saturday the event was led by the Director of the Peer Support Recovery Ministry who is also a Brush With the Law board member, Ryan Schweiger. The Peer Support Recovery Ministry staff and participants helped with the designing, planning and the making of a nonpermanent mural using chalk and pastels with two local recovery houses from the Pottstown area - men from @rightdirectionliving and women from @anotherdayclean . The food ministry of the church provided the group with lunch and refreshments. Also want to thank and give a shout out to @Rick Scott @rickdarula007 for taking drone video and photo footage of the making process. BWTL was happy to facilitate and be part of this super fun recovery community building activity of about 15 participants. Thanks NHELC neighbors for being a vessel of change in the Gilbertsville and surrounding communities! #recovery #faith # art #feedthehungry #buildingcommunity #chalkart #muralart #gilbertsville #pottstown # boyertown #limerick #montgomerycountypa If you or an organization would like to do something like this or maybe you have something else in mind entirely and would like BWTL to be a part of please contact the director of the program, Maria Maneos brushthelaw@gmail.com www.brushwiththelaw.org If someone is in need of peer recovery support in the Gilbertsville surrounding area contact: peersupport@newhanoverlutheran.org http://www.newhanoverlutheran.org/peersupportministry.php If you or someone you know is in need of recovery housing in the Pottstown surrounding area please visit: Another Day clean http://www.anotherdayclean.com/ Right Direction Living (RDL) https://www.facebook.com/Rightdirectionliving/
Family play room dedicated to female inmates at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility in Eagleville, PA. It is a safe environment for children to visit with their incarcerated loved ones.
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Brush With the Law - Community Service Arts is in Norristown, Pennsylvania.

1 week ago

Brush With the Law - Community Service Arts
📣TODAY IS THE DAY! 📣WOOHOO!!! 📣During the next 24 hours, people around the world will come together to participate in a global day of giving – #GivingTuesday Giving Tuesday is a global initiative that encourages people to donate their time and money to charitable causes on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving or ('Indigenous Peoples' Appreciation/Remembrance Day')Brush With the Law uses the visual arts in community-based beautification projects throughout the Philadelphia metropolitan area. Projects are led by professional artists who create together with college students, people assigned community service hours, advocates and members of the behavioral health community, and volunteers from the neighborhoods we work in to create public art.IF you feel the call to give, you can easily scan the barcodes on the paint buckets in the image flyer using your phone's camera. A link will pop up that you can press and it will take you securely to either our PayPal page or our Venmo page. YOUR CHOICE.𐮛AlteRNatiVe𐮛Venmo Link (to use instead of scan code) - copy and paste the link below into your browser and click search... account.venmo.com/u/brushwiththelawPayPal Link (to use instead of scan code) - copy and paste the link below into your browser and click search... www.paypal.com/paypalme/BrushWiththeLawPlease help us continue to provide the time, tools and supplies we hand out happily for free all through out the year to people from all walks of life. ... See MoreSee Less

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Brush With the Law - Community Service Arts is in Quakertown, Pennsylvania.

2 weeks ago

Brush With the Law - Community Service Arts
Our PaperBead Story Workshop at Camp CrossRoads ( Penn Foundation ) was a SUCCESS 🏕We focused on the theme the 7 C's of addiction. I didn't CAUSE it * I can't CONTROL it * I can't CURE itBUTI can take CARE of myself * By COMMUNICATING my feelings * making good CHOICES and * CELEBRATING myselfThe kids wrote their answers to the statements above according to their own identities/situations on the provided pieces of paper.***For Example: I can take CARE of myself by getting enough sleep...Participants are asked to reflect on both uncomfortable and comfortable life experiences and are then asked to explore and answer the questions in written form, drawing, mark making etc. We then cut the papers into strips and used our paper bead rollers and some #modpodge to roll the strips of written papers up into #paperbeads. These creative investigations result in a collection of personalized, emotionally charged paper beads which are then used to create works of art for both decorative and practical purposes. The participant’s experience is therefore transferred into a tangible item which can be used to uplift and inspire. The bead and resulting item is a physical acknowledgement of the participants’ life story and/or moment in time. 🔗 ❣️🔗 🔗❣️🔗 🔗 🔗❣️ABOUT CAMP CROSSROADS - 🏕️According to Psychology Today, 1-in-5 children grow up in a home where a parent abuses drugs or alcohol. This can create poor self-image, loneliness, guilt, anxiety, feelings of helplessness, fear of abandonment, and depression in children. These children are at a greater risk for behavioral/emotional problems and are four times more likely to develop their own addiction.Camp Crossroads aims to break this cycle of addiction by teaching children coping skills that build resiliency and confidence to make healthy life choices. The goal of camp is to reduce feelings of fear, guilt, isolation, loneliness, and helplessness and help campers understand that addiction is a disease, it impacts the entire family, and it is not their fault.#campcrossroads #pennfoundation #BWTL #brushwiththelaw #positivevibes ... See MoreSee Less

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Brush With the Law - Community Service Arts is at NYC.

3 weeks ago

Brush With the Law - Community Service Arts
Posted @withrepost • @hyperallergic Three stained-glass medallions that tell an allegorical story of justice in America, made by James “Yaya” Hough, were formally unveiled at Esplanade Plaza in Battery Park City this weekend. For Hough, who served 27 years in prison upon being handed a life sentence as a minor, the triptych of five-foot circular pieces integrates specific references to the United States’s history of injustice through imagery of chains and hooded Klansmen, and more universal iconography of freedom and justice rendered in an Art Deco style.“I’m excited about this commission because it opens the public space up to a new voice that people don’t typically hear from particularly in a positive way,” Hough told Hyperallergic. “This voice is trying to speak about justice as it relates to how we live in this country, how we bring equity and fairness to this country, how we do that through looking at aspects of our past, and how we realize something better through contemplation of that — in this case through art.”...(all photos Jasmine Liu/Hyperallergic)#JamesYayaHough #StainedGlass #Mosaic #Art #Glass #BatteryParkCity #PublicArt #NYC #NewYork ... See MoreSee Less

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Brush With the Law - Community Service Arts is in Pottstown, Pennsylvania.

4 weeks ago

Brush With the Law - Community Service Arts
Free expungement clinic on November 15,2022 10am-12pm No registration needed just stop in and take your first step to a fresh start. #expungement Pottstown Recovery Learning Center 414 East High St., Pottstown, Pa ... See MoreSee Less

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Brush With the Law - Community Service Arts

4 weeks ago

Brush With the Law - Community Service Arts
CONGRATULATIONS 🥳Andrea McAlpine HortonAndrea was recently selected through an interview process with CSP Montgomery County PA to receive free training to become a Certified Peer Specialist. She graduated this past Friday with her Pennsylvania Board Certification. Andrea works for Brush With the Law - Community Service Arts in the art room through Maturity Works, Training and Support She has been part of the BWTL and HopeWorx family for a few years now. Andrea certainly dishes out some sass 😆 but follows up with lots of love and hugs! 🥰Certified Peer Specialists- A credential for individuals with personal, lived experience in their own mental health recovery. By offering insight into the recovery process based on their own experience, peer specialists are able to provide a unique perspective while providing peer support services. Some roles filled by peer support specialists include assisting their peers in articulating their goals for recovery, learning and practicing new skills, helping them monitor their progress, supporting them in their treatment, modeling effective coping techniques and self-help strategies based on the specialist's own recovery experience, supporting them in advocating for themselves to obtain effective services, and developing and implementing recovery plans.In 2007, the Department of Health and Human Services recognized peer support services as an evidence-based practice. It also informed all 50 state Medicaid directors that The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services would pay for peer support services, provided that peer support specialists--like other types of healthcare providers--were governed by a statewide training and credentialing program.[3] As of 2016, 42 US states, the District of Columbia, and the Veterans' Administration have adopted such programs to train and certify individuals to work as peer support specialists#peersupport #cps #paboardcertified ... See MoreSee Less

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