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 217
Kelt also got this keychain on Friday from a former teacher from the Czech Republic! Now he has 6,006!
The Czech Republic is one of the countries I got interested in, and when I was a little girl I had a book called Bilbie the Turtle, which came from the former Czechoslovakia.
(now a certain "Postcard from Prague" is behind my cupboard and has been there for several weeks).
One of my favourite Prague/Praha attractions is probably the Charles Bridge. I also love a spa town called Hadek Kralove.
Fantastic!
ReplyDeleteThe Czech Republic is one of the countries I got interested in, and when I was a little girl I had a book called Bilbie the Turtle, which came from the former Czechoslovakia.
(now a certain "Postcard from Prague" is behind my cupboard and has been there for several weeks).
One of my favourite Prague/Praha attractions is probably the Charles Bridge. I also love a spa town called Hadek Kralove.