Keychain A Day: Day 42

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 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 42

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