LIVES ON CANVAS
According to the Renaissance artist Michelangelo, “A man paints with his brains and not with his hands.” This is true of any great artist who puts their heart and soul onto the canvas, but is perhaps particularly apt in relation to the work of the hundreds of artists associated with the mouth and foot painting movement.
2006 marks 50 years since German artist Erich Stegmann, a mouth painter who lost the use of his arms due to polio at a young age, brought together other artists with similar abilities to form the Lodge of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists (now widely referred to as the MFPA). The collective enabled these talented individuals to support themselves and market their work – something which is notoriously difficult for artists to do, whether they’re disabled or not. The organisation’s early motto, “No pity please” reflects the fact that the artists see their work as a way of supporting themselves through their talent – without having to rely on the state or charity.
Members of MFPA associations from Australia to India create, publish and promote their own work. The artists are perhaps best known for their Christmas card paintings, although their work extends far beyond this, encompassing landscapes, still lifes and portraiture in a variety of media. The various mouth and foot painting associations form a collective of like-minded people who can work autonomously and become self-sufficient through their craft. Every member painter receives a regular income whether they’re producing artwork or not, thus removing the uncertainty that a changeable disability can bring, and meaning that somebody else is handling the business side of things. Student members are granted scholarship money which can be put towards materials and training to enable them to develop their skills and become associate or full members. All members, whether they have student, associate or full membership (positions which require increasing levels of skill), are judged on their artistic ability, with their work compared to that of non-disabled professional artists before they are permitted to join.
TOM YENDELL
Tom Yendell has a long history with the British MFPA, having first come into contact with them in the late 1960s at an exhibition which was held to raise money for people who, like him, were affected by thalidomide. Then, while undertaking an art foundation course at Hastings College of Art and Technology, he was contacted by the MFPA to see if he would be interested in becoming a member. But it wasn’t until after Tom had completed a degree in the expressive arts that he finally joined the association as a student member in 1986.
Tom had attended Treloar School in his teenage years, where his art teacher encouraged his talents; he went back there to work as a teacher himself before becoming more involved in the work of the MFPA. When the organisation decided to open a venue to display the work of its members and other disabled artists, Tom became curator of the Hampshire based MFPA gallery.
Tom is kept busy with his organisational commitments to the group, but still manages to find the time to create his own work. He told us: “The association take all the work I produce and give me a good living every month by turning it into cards and other items. I think the most important thing in life is to be financially independent and that’s specifically what the association does for its member artists.”
DAPHNE ALLAN
Student artist Daphne Allan became involved with the MFPA thanks to Tom Yendell; when the pair met at a social event for thalidomide survivors, Tom suggested that Daphne should consider submitting her portfolio to the organisation. She put this on hold for many years while working for Lloyds TSB, until March 2004 when she was accepted as a student member. This coincided with a voluntary redundancy, as Daphne explains: “The fact that I knew I would be painting meant I was comfortable with accepting redundancy. I thought it was great because I could do some art without the pressure of work. What I would have done if the MFPA hadn’t been there, I really don’t know.” As a student member, Daphne is still finding her feet with the MFPA, but told us: “There’s a great feeling of satisfaction when you create something and show it to people and they tell you it’s lovely.”
To commemorate the MFPA’s 50th birthday, different artists have each reproduced small individual segments of a Stegmann painting, which will be joined together to create a large reproduction and exhibited in October at the Royal College of Art. “We were allowed to use any medium but we just had to try and keep the colours accurate,” explains Daphne. ”It’ll be very exciting to see how that pieces together. I hope I don’t let the side down with my square!”
ALISON LAPPER
Perhaps the most well known of the MFPA’s British artists is Alison Lapper, whose profile was raised dramatically last year when Marc Quinn’s sculpture of her was installed in Trafalgar Square. Alison’s artistic career began when she won an art competition at school aged 15 and the local press showed an interest in her work. Supported by the MFPA as a student artist through numerous art courses, Alison became a full member after obtaining her first class fine art degree from the University of Brighton. Alison told us: “When the MFPA offered me a scholarship at the age of 15, I didn’t take it particularly seriously. I didn’t realise that it would lead to full-time employment when I was 28. When you’re that young you don’t think about what you’re going to do for a job – I was too busy being a teenager!” Alison appreciates the financial security that working as an MFPA artist brings, as it enables her to support her six-year-old son Parys while also pursuing other types of creative work, particularly using photography.
Having been formally trained as an artist, Alison’s interest is in figurative work and she’s a particular fan of life drawing, which she teaches to other members of the MFPA. “I’m not really trained as a landscape artist so the work I do for the MFPA is quite a challenge,” she says. “Every time I finish a painting for the MFPA I have to think of something else which is different, but also something that’s along the same kind of lines. Trying to do Christmas cards all year round is actually quite hard. Although people probably think we just churn these paintings out, it isn’t that easy. I’m glad it’s a challenge because if it wasn’t I probably wouldn’t do it; I’d tire of it.”
With her increased visibility in the media thanks to the unveiling of Marc Quinn’s sculpture Alison Lapper Pregnant - “I’ve got the biggest bum in Europe and I’m very proud of it,” says Alison - the artist is keen to use her fame to let the world know about the work of the MFPA. She has been invited to New York in October with other winners of the Women’s World award which she won in 2005, and will use the opportunity to promote the mouth and foot painters. She explains: “I’m probably their most famous artist which is great because if I can raise the profile of the MFPA then I do so. Whenever I do interviews, even if it isn’t about art, I always mention the MFPA. If you can put a human face to it then people start to take you seriously which is what it’s all about, spreading the word.”
Along with Tom, Daphne and more than 700 mouth and foot painting artists across the world, Alison is helping to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the MFPA. In Britain, we can look forward to the public exhibition at the Royal College of Art in October, which will showcase work created by mouth and foot painting artists over the past 50 years. Many members will also be travelling to Vienna for a special festival and conference early next year.
Entering its second half-century, the worldwide organisation continues to go from strength to strength as more and more people hear of its work and the talents of its artists. As Trevor Wells, who is a board member of the MFPA, told us:
“It started off with Stegmann painting in the street. He wanted to earn his living because his art was good, not because he painted with his mouth. It’s all about pride. He wanted to set up an organisation where we could earn a living for ourselves because what we paint is as good as what’s painted by non-disabled people. From such small roots we’ve got over 700 artists now, so I think Stegmann has achieved his goal.”
FURTHER INFORMATION
British Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists
www.mfpa.co.uk
020 7229 4491
Mouth and Foot Painting
Artists of the World
www.amfpa.com
00 423 232 1176
September/October 2006
