Class is in at the CCS Sculpture Room B102. Rajewski seated left.

On Thursday, February 12th, artist and activist Jonathan Rajewski was the featured speaker at the weekly Fine Art Talk—an ongoing series facilitated by College of Creative Studies professor Chido Johnson. Exhibiting his trademark reluctance to highlight his own studio practice, Rajewski chose instead to put the focus on a couple of his ongoing social works-in-progress: the Free School in Hamtramck, and a compendium of work from the Writer’s Block, a creative writing and visual arts workshop in the Macomb Regional Correctional Facility, where he has worked with incarcerated writers and artists since 2013. Rajewski took the audience through the layout-in-progress of the compendium, as he talked about the content and its creators. Many of the latter are some of Michigan’s approximately 350 “juvenile lifers”: men who were 15, 16 or 17 years old at the time of their prosecution and were sentenced to life without parole.

“Line Up” by Yusef Qualls-el, one of the artists from the workshop at Macomb Regional Correctional Facility.

Rajewski characterized his own studio work as more self-absorbed than the work he does in prisons or at his Klinger Street studio, which frequently hosts Free School events that are open to the community. But as Johnson highlighted during the open discussion following the talk, much of the work Rajewski does reflects his values of democracy and hands-on experience for all. “We can all have some cake,” as Rajewski puts it.

Artist, series facilitator and CCS professor Chido Johnson introduces Rajewski.

This was a fascinating installment (followed by lively discussion!) of an interesting series over at CCS. This week’s speaker was the inimitable Andrew Krieger, and next Thursday’s will be Ashley Cook via Skype from Berlin. Alison Wong will be speaking on the 4th of March. Don’t miss this great shot of lunchtime food for thought!

The Fine Art Talk series takes place every Thursday from 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. at the College for Creative Studies, Sculpture Room B102, 201 E. Kirby St., Detroit; 313-664-7400; www.collegeforcreativestudies.edu.