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 316




Kelt's 7th grade wrestling photo with gloves.

Today we're driving to Lopez Island, WA to camp for 6 days! Lopez is apart of the San Juan Islands and is one of the larger islands out of the 172. As we packed for Kelt, I started to think of the essentials that he needs to leave the house. His survival kit is a little different than most people's, which includes items such as sweat pants, fingernail clippers, gluten and casein free food, vitamins, history books, journals, and mechanical pencils, etc. Ever since he was little, he's never been able to wear jeans. The material is one of the few tactile sensitivities that he has. He's also always been concerned with his fingernails and hands. When he was younger he used to wear gloves to stop biting his nails. It's interesting to think about his past behaviors and observe how they've progressed throughout the years.
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