When We Were Very Young:
Jailbird Lullabies

Drawings & Paintings
by Penelope Houston
June 6th - August 5th, 2025

Live music! Sat. July 12, 6-8:pm
Penelope will perform w/Tom Heyman.

Nielsen Arts Gallery 1545 Solano Ave., Berkeley. Open Mon-Sat, 10 - 6pm & by appt.

Houston's newest mug shot series is a mixed-media exploration of innocence and guilt, featuring pencil portraits of twelve characters accused of crimes ranging from delinquency to patricide. Collaged onto full-page illustrations from a 1916 book of nursery rhymes, they tell stories of tangled childhoods made more dangerous by the unexpected, nightmarish, and sometimes humorous intrusions of insect morphology.

“Each arrest photo speaks to me of a journey leading to an ill-fated moment, petty or disastrous, that these cautionary tales failed to prevent. My fascination with the faces of the accused never ends, and I hope to illuminate the beauty, pathos, and recognition I find in them.”
- Penelope Houston, Oakland, CA, 2025