Keychain A Day: October 2010

In 1998 my youngest brother, Kelton, was diagnosed with autism, a developmental disability that affects communication and social interaction. Autism currently affects 1/88 people in the United States. Kelton is a talented individual who runs cross-country and track, wrestles, plays the drums, loves history, and collects bobble heads and keychains.

This year Kelton decided to enroll in his first art class where he discovered his skill for drawing. His unorthodox style made me reconsider my artwork and examine the differences and similarities that exist between our perspectives. According to Paul Collins’ Not Even Wrong: Adventures in Autism, artists are four times more likely to have autism in their families. Considering the number of artists in my family, this statistic made me question the similarities that exist between Kelton and me. For this reason, we have decided to draw one of his 6,481 keychains a day for one year. These drawings will be as simple and uninhibited as possible. This project will explore our individual perspectives and examine the similarities that exist between us as artists.

Day 43

Andy Warhol, Cambell's Soup Cans, 1962

This year for Halloween I was the sky and Kelt was Andy Warhol. In the last couple of years Kelt has developed an interest for famous people with autism. According to Jennifer Elder's Different Like Me: My Book of Autism Heroes, celebrities such as Warhol, Issac Newton, Lewis Carroll, Einstein, Alan Turing, Immanuel Kant, and Joseph Cornell, etc., all had characteristics that were on the spectrum.

Just like Kelt, Warhol was a collector; when he found something that he liked, such as cookie jars, he would buy as many as possible. He applied this tendency to his art, with repetitive works such as Campbell's Soup Cans and Marilyn.

Day 42

When Kelt was younger, he used to watch toy cars' wheels spin over and over again. He would bring the wheel as close to his face as possible and spend up to an hour playing this game. Over the years I've seen many children with autism do the same repetitive movement with toy cars. Something about the movement is intriguing and comforting. The toy car is reliable; despite the chaos of one's environment, the wheel will always spin the same way.

Day 41

Wrestling season's about to start! Photo from 2009-10 season.

Day 40

"I collect keychains because it's fun and I think they're cool. I like them
because they're small and there are so many different ones. My favorite
keychain categories are businesses, bottle caps, cartoons, movies, and sports."

Day 39

Day 38

My friend Mary sent Kelt this keychains from Baltimore in 2008.

Day 37

In the 5th grade Kelt asked us to put his best keychains
on his back. He thought it would make a cool picture...

Day 36

Homecoming! Kelt with his queen.

Day 35

                            Along with high school sports, Kelt also does Special Olympics
                         bowling. Sean, one of his best friends, helps with bowling, school,
                              and other aspects of his life; he's always been there for Kelt.

Day 34

Kelt's friend gave him these for his last birthday. As you can imagine,
he mostly gets keychains and bobbleheads (his other collection) for holidays.

Day 33

Today Kelt ran in the qualifying cross country meet for districts; he made it and
broke a personal record! We thought we'd celebrate by drawing a cross country keychain.