We find artists through many different sources. Oftentimes they find us. We are part of a national system of publications that are in correctional facilities and part of organizations throughout the country that are familiar with the work we do. One of the best ways to find prison artists is by word of mouth, as prisons are tight-knit communities.

We make sure our paperwork gives us the authority to work with the artist. This means the artist has signed an agreement to have us represent their artwork in some capacity, typically in a consignment agreement. We ask for a third party to speak on their behalf, if available, and we request information about the artwork so we can understand how it was created. We also gather biographical information about the artist. Once the paperwork is done, we professionally photograph the artwork, describe it, measure it, and it becomes inventoried in our collection and uploaded to our proprietary database.

There is a wide variety of ways prisoners can make art. First, they might already have natural talent and now have the time to further develop their skills. There are sometimes artwork programs in the correctional facilities, or the artist is in a group of people doing art and decides if it could be interesting or helpful for them. They also have a wide range of resources available. Some have nothing at all for creating art and will be extremely resourceful by using pieces of cardboard, coffee as paint, toilet paper, toothpaste, glue, and vegetable juice as unconventional ways to create something. On the other hand, there are people who are given the opportunity to create art in a more conventional way with paint, pastels, charcoal, and pencils, and can do an extraordinary job taking traditional tools and using them to create their respective masterpieces.