“We are all human”: Finding Yourself in upstArt’s Pathfinder Partnership

For nearly a decade, Emmy Award-winning artist and educator Nancy Konrardy has been working with young men and women at the Lancaster County Youth Detention Center through Lincoln Arts’ upsArt Arts Access programming. This Center houses Pathfinder, a school in the Lincoln Public Schools system for incarcerated teens.

Every year, Nancy visits the Detention Center to carry out two art residencies—each lasting six weeks. Every year, Nancy changes countless lives during her time at Pathfinder. Being detained is just the latest of what are often many life traumas the young adults residing at Pathfinder have endured. They often shut down emotionally and struggle to interact with their peers and society. But art serves as an avenue for them to express their feelings without judgment, a tool for them to release their emotions without the fear and shame that often complicate traditional talk therapy.

Nancy, as well as Pathfinder principal Randy Farmer, often share the profound breakthroughs they witness. One such experience saw Pathfinder student Alex—a transgender male—come into his own throughout a series of lessons Nancy taught on the protest posters of Corita Kent.

“Alex was a young transgender male living in the female pod,” Nancy recalled. “I always found Alex sitting alone, separated, at the back, close to the door; being his usual surly self with downcast eyes. Pathfinder art classes build self-confidence within a safe space, and Alex was slowly pulled out of his protective shell.

”He was reluctant to participate, but this Corita Kent project brought him to life. He welcomed dialogue as he tried to figure out what he most wanted to say about being transgender. There was a light in his eyes when he said to me, ‘You know what I am called? I’m called an “It.” “It”…nothing. Why can’t they see me for me, a person, a human?’

”And this became the message on his poster, with all the labels—’homosexual, lesbian, transgender, cisgender, human. We are human, we are all human. I am human. I am human.’ Alex reached deep for this. He was proud, he was happy. Not only that—his artwork became a vehicle for others to dialogue about their own story or to comment on Alex’s story, easing the tension around his gender identity. Alex was brave to expose this vulnerability and many of the other students recognized this. There was the kind of empathy and understanding that only art can release.”

With the support of the Nebraska Arts Council, we are proud to facilitate Nancy’s work at Pathfinder, and to expand our work there with the addition of music classes with teaching artist Daniel Martinez.