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.

Showing posts with label dc/marvel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dc/marvel. Show all posts

Day 325


The Cougars, 24 x 36", 2009
 graphite, colored pencil, crayon, permanent marker on paper

The Historic F Outboard Raceboat Equipment of the 1950s-1970s Southern-To-Pacific Coast
US Regions, 24 x 48", 2006, graphite, colored pencil, crayon, permanent marker on paper

For the next couple of weeks we're going to feature different artists with autism from the book Artism. This work was done by artist Gregory Blackstock from Seattle. He uses ink, pencil, markers, and crayons to create works of repetition. Along with art he also plays the accordion, piano, and organ; has a great memory; and speaks many languages. He is represented by the Garde Rail Gallery in Seattle and has his own book, Blackstock's Collections. To see more drawings, check out Garde Rail Gallery.

Video: King 5 Evening Magazine, Sept. 29, 2011
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Day 293


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Day 284

Wednesday, June 29, 2011




These comics are from a blog that I constantly check about an owl and line with autism. I think the artist does a great job showing autism and its characteristics. These are two of my favorites.
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Day 259

Saturday, June 4, 2011


Piece #12, raffia

This is the 12th piece for our sculpture project. We haven't written the artist statement yet, but want to work with a variety of materials, such as wax, glue, and clay, etc., to see what Kelt likes. I'm curious to observe his process and learn if sculpture is a medium that he enjoys. I'm also interested in his relationship with the different materials. So far he's enjoyed wrapping and tying the most.

The materials are also important because people with autism often have unique responses to sensory stimuli. Examples include high threshold for pain, oversensitivity to sounds or being touched, exaggerated reactions to light or odors, or fascination with certain stimuli, etc. Hypersensitivities and/or hyposensitivities vary depending on the individual; for people with autism the continuum can range from no reaction to responses in all five senses.

This material was inspired by artists from the Tjanpi Desert Weavers organization.

Narelle Holland dancing with tjanpi tjilku, 2010

Deep Rockhole Basket
Pantjiti Mackenzie
Hand dyed Raffia, 2009
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Day 255

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

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Day 253

Sunday, May 29, 2011

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Day 221


Doctor Manhattan from Watchmen.
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Day 214


PBS Autism Now Part 3- Autism's Causes:
How Close Are We to Solving the Puzzle?

"I think it probably is a waste of effort at this time to try and understand vaccines as a major culprit for, or a major cause of, autism. It's not to say, however, that there is a small subset of children who may be particularly vulnerable to vaccines.

And in their case, having the vaccines, or particular vaccines, particularly in certain kinds of situations -- if the child was ill, if the child had a precondition. Like a mitochondrial defect.
Vaccinations for those children may be the environmental factor that tipped them over the edge of autism.
And I think it is incredibly important, still, to try and figure out what, if any, vulnerabilities, in a small subset of children, might make them at risk for having certain vaccinations." -Dr. David Amaral, research director at the MIND Institute at the University of California, Davis


Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.

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Day 192



Yesterday Kelt started taking melatonin to help his sleep problems that developed several years ago. On a typical weeknight he gets 5-6 hours of sleep, which ruins his school day. He's unable to focus and sometimes falls asleep in class. According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, melatonin is a hormone that regulates other hormones and helps control our sleep cycle. Discussed in the Science News section of Autism Speaks, the Journal of Child Neurology published a study by Vanderbilt University School of Medicine that suggests that melatonin supplements can help people with autism with sleep problems:

"Melatonin levels are low in children with autism, which suggested that taking a melatonin supplement could help them with sleep. 'Rather than treating them with some other drug that would promote sleep, [we could] give them what they're missing,' said Beth Malow, M.D., M.S., senior author of the study and a neurologist specializing in sleep at VU" (Autism Speaks).

We'll see how it works for Kelt. In this study, 25% of the children (ages 2-18) stopped having sleep problems and 60% reported an improvement (107 children total) within 2-6 months.
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