Cody Stuhltrager has been named the inaugural artist-in-residence for ReVision: Art and Justice, a new three-year residency and exhibition series at Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site centering justice-impacted artists. The Philadelphia painter and muralist begins the residency now, with an original installation set to debut at the Fairmount Avenue site this fall.
Cody Stuhltrager’s Path From SCI-Graterford to the Barnes Foundation
Cody Stuhltrager started making art in 2013 while incarcerated at SCI-Graterford, working alongside Mural Arts Philadelphia on projects inside the facility. In the decade since, he has contributed to dozens of murals and public art installations across Philadelphia, exhibited at the Barnes Foundation, and worked to help fellow artists produce and install their own projects — a trajectory that echoes the Rec Crew and SCI Phoenix artists recently featured in a separate Barnes exhibition.
“Art has given me the opportunity to express myself in ways that words alone never could,” Stuhltrager said of the residency.
Inside the Residency Cody Stuhltrager Is Launching
ReVision: Art and Justice will welcome three justice-impacted artists over three years, each developing an original, site-specific installation while working alongside Eastern State’s staff, collaborating with community partners, and engaging visitors through public programs. The initiative is funded by a $360,000 grant from The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, and Cody Stuhltrager is the first artist selected to take part.
Dr. Kerry Sautner, President & CEO of Eastern State, said Stuhltrager’s background made him the right choice to open the series, noting his work reflects the power of creativity to inspire dialogue and deepen public understanding of incarceration.
Where to Meet Cody Stuhltrager This Summer at Eastern State
Cody Stuhltrager makes his first public appearance as artist-in-residence on Saturday, August 1, during Eastern State’s Summer Nights programming, leading a drop-in make-and-take activity from 6 to 9 p.m. exploring the meaning of labor through layered mixed-media techniques. All supplies are provided, no reservation is required, and separate admission applies.
Stuhltrager’s session is one part of a fuller Aug. 1 lineup built around the evening’s Art & Resistance theme. Visitors can also meet the team behind Halloween Nights for a preview of the site’s annual haunt, including a live special-effects makeup demonstration, or stop by a table from New Leash on Life USA, a rescue organization that pairs adoptable dogs with justice-involved trainers as part of its rehabilitation programs.
Two mini tours round out the night. One walks through the Catholic Chaplain’s Office, where Lester Smith painted 23 murals while incarcerated at Eastern State in the 1950s. The other traces the 1945 tunnel escape orchestrated by Clarence Klinedinst and Willie Sutton, among other attempts made over, under, and through the penitentiary’s walls — episodes the site frames as earlier, if unsanctioned, expressions of the same creativity and resistance driving Stuhltrager’s residency.
He returns on the evening of September 23 for a free public panel discussion on the history of Eastern State’s arts program and the power of place-based artistic practice. Additional details on Stuhltrager’s installation and future ReVision artists will be announced as the initiative continues.
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