It’s a numbing number: 100,000. 

According to artist Ed Epping, that’s how many people are in solitary confinement in U.S. prisons on any given day — and it’s also the number of hand-sewn stitches he used to embroider the solitary figure in his piece Isolate. 

Isolate hooks the viewer instantly: a jumpsuit-orange silhouette, curled in the fetal position on a vintage canvas cot cover, the word “NUMBER” branded across its center. Visually compelling on its own, the work becomes even more potent when you learn it’s made up of 100,000 tally-mark stitches—each one marking a moment of confinement, a day, a person. 

Since 2015, Epping has been exploring the consequences of mass incarceration through The Corrections Project, a body of work designed to translate overwhelming data into visual form. “You have to first catch a viewer’s eye,” he says, “then—from that—trust that curiosity leads them to want to understand what the art is about.” 

Now, Isolate and other selections from The Corrections Project will be on view at the historic Puddle Dock Village School in Alna from July 17 to 24 as part of the month-long Puddle Dock Village Festival, presented by Studio B. A celebrated artist and retired professor from Williams College, Epping creates work that invites viewers to reckon with injustice—not abstractly, but emotionally and viscerally. 

Set inside the former one-room schoolhouse, Epping’s installation presents select pieces from The Corrections Project in dialogue with the classroom space, revealing the overwhelming impact of mass incarceration: The Abolitionist’s Ledger transforms human numbers into millions of graphite strokes; Prison Time uses reimagined clocks to lay bare the harsh realities of imprisonment; Exonerated spotlights the wrongfully sentenced. The exhibition confronts viewers with the injustices of the carceral system visually, viscerally, and conceptually—making them impossible to ignore. 

The show opens with a reception on Thursday, July 17 from 4 to 6 p.m., followed by a pyrographic drawing demonstration on Saturday, July 19 from 1 to 4 p.m., where Epping will be joined by local artisan Lauren Woodcock to share technique and insight. 

On Sunday, July 20 from 2:30 to 5 p.m., the nearby Alna Meetinghouse hosts “Art Without Walls: Creativity & Incarceration,” a public conversation about the role of art in carceral matters. Epping will speak alongside Mainers with lived experience of incarceration, offering diverse perspectives on justice, expression, and repair. 

The Puddle Dock Village School, located at 275 Head Tide Road in Alna, will be open to visitors daily from 1 to 6 p.m. during the exhibition. 

Part of the larger Puddle Dock Village Festival (running from July 5 to Aug. 3), Epping’s show is the second of three solo exhibitions illuminating themes of trauma, justice, and healing in rural Maine. 

All events are free and open to the public. For full details, visit puddledockfestival.org or contact Studio B Executive Director Peter Bruun at 207-800-1640 or peter@bruunstudios.com.