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 education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts

Day 62



Ross Dickinson, Valley Farms, 1934, Smithsonian American Art Museum

Today Kelt and I went to the Whatcom Museum with his high school art class to view an exhibit about paintings from 1934. These paintings were apart of FDR's New Deal plan to support artists, create new jobs, and show how the country was improving during the Great Depression. Of all the paintings, this one was Kelt's favorite. He even interrupted the tour guide at one point to show that the hills looked like croissants (he had many comments). After the tour he sat down and patiently drew for over 20 minutes. He constantly surprises me.
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Day 58



A couple of weeks ago Kelt was inducted into the high school honor society for maintaining a 3.5
GPA. First homecoming king, then cross country districts, and now honor society... this is his year!
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Day 51




Some examples of Kelton's art from his drawing class.
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Day 49


Ever since Kelt was a freshmen in high school, my family and I have been concerned about his 13-year plan. He wanted to go to college, but we didn't know if that would be possible. We wanted to find an option that went beyond the public school transition program for students 18 to 21. Such programs primarily emphasize employment, whereas we wanted a program that incorporated academics, employment, and independent life skills. After researching the possibilities we found 16 post-secondary options for people with developmental disabilities across the country:

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Day 9


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