Entry No. 44 — the Colorado Springs file — filed under: prison-art
Art in Isolation — Fremont Center for the Arts
“a mass-murderer's still-life painting with a price tag”
Every August, a quiet nonprofit on Main Street in Cañon City hangs — and sells — original artwork made inside ADX Florence, America's only federal Supermax, where artists include Oklahoma City bombing co-conspirator Terry Nichols. This is the "Art in Isolation" exhibition, now in its eighth year, in which some 50 incarcerated artists contribute a combined 500 works priced $5–$300; half the sale proceeds go straight to the artists, administered by the prison toward restitution accounts. The center has moved $80,000+ in inmate art across prior shows, a fact covered by Colorado Sun, KUNC, and Rocky Mountain PBS — yet it never trends. What you're looking at is a mass-murderer's still-life painting with a price tag, hanging in an 1800s-era building in a small Colorado river town, and that is genuinely unlike anything else.
The move: Time your trip to Cañon City in August when the exhibition is up, browse the 500-piece show at the Fremont Center, then walk the Royal Gorge afterward — you'll have a lot to talk about over dinner.
📍 Before you go The center sits at 523 Main Street in the heart of Cañon City's historic downtown — one of Colorado's largest intact Victorian districts, full of 1880s storefronts — inside the old Daily Record building. There's on-street parking along Main Street and accessible spots near the ADA entrance. Crucially, the Art in Isolation show hangs only once a year, in August, so plan your trip around it; hours shift seasonally, so check ahead. It's about an hour (roughly 46 miles) from Colorado Springs, an easy day trip. Pair it with the Arkansas Riverwalk, the fittingly grim Museum of Colorado Prisons, and the Royal Gorge a few miles west.
- 📍 Cañon City
- 💸 $
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 523 Main St, Cañon City, CO 81212
Hours: Added 2026-06-09 — confirm current hours before you go.
⚠ Seasonal or scheduled — always check before you go.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: coloradosun.com · kunc.org · koaa.com · Official site
last checked: 2026-06-09