Life to Live

The history of people with disabilities in Australia - 100 years

A resource guide prepared by: Disability Services Australia Ltd

Contents
Overview / Timeline / Medical Advances & Health / Technical Innovation

Education / Participating in Community Life / Employment Opportunities

The Arts / Sport / Finding a Voice / HOME

The Arts


The Arts have always been a means of showcasing Australia's cultural diversity, whether it be through visual arts, music and dance, literature or theatre.

Participation in the Arts provides a way of communicating with others through creativity, whether individually or in a group.

Australia is developing the Arts in a way which reflects the people that we are, and which provides all individuals with the opportunity to be involved, whether as an artist or a spectator.

Through recognition of the artistic abilities or creative desires of people with disabilities, our Art culture is continuing to evolve.

Paralympics Arts Festival

The Paralympics Arts Festival Invincible Summer was staged in Sydney during the Paralympic Games in October 2000.

There were numerous events spread throughout the city during the two week festival - musical concerts, drama, art exhibitions, puppetry, street theatre, dance, acrobatics and educational workshops. Artists were drawn from diverse backgrounds and included people with and without disabilities from Australia and overseas.

One of the highlights of the festival was the One Heart, One World exhibition at Customs House. The exhibition consisted of 100 visual art works, each one an interpretation of a poem written by a person with a disability, representing their emotions and aspirations.

Caption: From the One Heart, One World exhibition, Paralympic Arts Festival, Sydney 2000. Art by Reg Mombassa, inspired by Michele Fehlberg's poem "It Doesn't Hurt."


Schizophrenia Fellowship Poetry Competition


Each year, the Schizophrenia Fellowship of NSW holds a poetry competition during Schizophrenia Awareness Week. The competition has been running for around ten years and many of the poems are published in the Fellowship's newsletter. In 1993, the Fellowship published a collection of poems entitled "Insights, Alternative Realities."

Innocence

- by Adrienne Lise Brown

Last night,
I dreamed of innocence,
I dreamed of walking through a forest where the trees gave me dignity,
I sat on a rock, all these people all around,
In this dream,
I was living for me,
I felt satisfied,
I felt relieved,
Last night,
All my fears left my side,
This sickness suddenly vanished,
A boy dressed in white gathered flowers for me and more honey than I could ever taste,
Pale skin, eyes like the clouds beneath me,
Last night,
I locked myself in happiness,
This is the way I want to be,
In the Euphoria,
I dreamt I found an everlasting rainbow,
And underneath lay a waterfall,
The water crisp, clean and translucent, tasted like life,
All the answers already answered lay under the riverbed,
All the sea creatures swam with smiles,
Eternity within,
Last night,
I dreamed of innocence,
I dreamed of walking through a forest,
Where the trees gave me dignity.
From "Insights, Alternative Realities", edited by Barbara Ramjan, published by the Schizophrenia Fellowship of NSW in 1993. Reprinted here with permission of Jan Brown.


Arts Project Australia

Arts Project Australia is an arts-based organisation for people with an intellectual disability. It was founded in the 1970s by the late Myra Hilgendorf to enable people with an intellectual disability to participate fully in the visual arts.

The organisation provides education and training in the arts as both a vocational and recreational activity. The studio workshop program aims to develop people's self-confidence and to provide an alternative means of communication through artistic expression.

Members are assisted to develop their artistic skills and to share their work with the art community and the general public through various exhibitions at major galleries. Members' work has also been featured in leading art magazines and purchased by collectors both locally and overseas.

For further information visit the Arts Project Australia website: www.geocities.com/artsproject2000


DADAA National Network

This national organisation represents people with a disability or a disadvantage in the Arts. Through its State and Territory based members, DADAA advocates to make the Arts accessible to everyone, whether as an artist or an audience member. It promotes festivals and events to provide artists with national recognition for their work. For further information visit www.dadaanat.net.au

Arts Access - Victoria

Formed in 1974, Arts Access is a Victorian-based organisation which is committed to making the arts and other cultural activities accessible to people who are disadvantaged, including people with disabilities. This may be through by participation in an activity or as an audience member at a cultural event.

The Artistic Program encourages development and participation in a wide range of activities such as painting, drawing, sculpture, ceramics, dance, drama and music.

Highlights of the Arts Access programs have included major art exhibitions, public performances, collaboration with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and a cultural exchange program with China.

A number of successful arts-based groups have also been formed with the assistance of Arts Access including the Weave Movement Theatre, Back to Back Theatre and The Big Bag Band.

Accessible Arts - NSW

Accessible Arts was established in NSW in 1982 to include people with disabilities more widely in the Arts community, as participants or audience members.

Accessible Arts works within the community to develop avenues for self-expression through creative activities such as dance, drama, music, literature and visual arts.

Accessible Arts projects have included:

* Involving people with physical and sensory disabilities in dance classes and performances

* Creating programs that develop skills to a professional standard

* Focusing on new technology as a means of creating accessible and interactive environments

* Developing exhibitions

* Providing information and advice to the arts, cultural and disability sectors and the broader community

Accessible Arts believes that inclusion of people with disabilities more widely in The Arts leads to positive communication and interaction.

Access Arts - Queensland

Since it was established in Queensland in 1983, Access Arts has been bringing people with disabilities closer to the Arts through activities such as drama, dance, opera, film, cabaret, choir, visual arts, exhibitions and performances.

Members are encouraged to explore their creative passions as recreational enjoyments or alternatively, as careers. Education and skill improvement is achieved through a variety of workshop programs.

Cultural exchange programs have played an important role in the development of artists. In 1995, twelve members of Access Arts toured Semarang Indonesia, and in 1997, a visual arts exhibition called "Tracking the Blue Sheep" toured Australia and then opened at Kita-Kyushu in Japan. Relationships have also been developed with arts groups in New Zealand, Europe and Hong Kong.

At a regional level, Arts Access works with community and arts groups to assist them to include people with disabilities or people who are disadvanted by social conditions in their activities. It also trains local artists to work in the field of arts and disabilities.

In 1997 Access Arts employed a regional indigenous project officer to ensure that indigenous communities also gain access to cultural and artistic resources.


Mouth and Foot Painting Artists

Mouth and Foot Painting Artists (MFPA) is part of an international organisation which was established in Liechtenstein after the Second World War. The artists who paint using their mouth or feet contribute work for reproduction in greeting cards, jigsaw puzzles, books and other items which can be sold. In return, they receive lifelong financial support.

The Australian branch of MFPA was established in NSW in 1970 with 9 members. Today there are 23 members across Australia. New student members are given scholarships to cover the costs of art tuition and materials in order to develop their painting skills, with the goal of eventually becoming full members.

MFPA holds exhibitions of artists' work from time to time, often including art from overseas member artists. A major exhibition was held at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, in 2000.

To find out more about Mouth and Foot Painting Artists, visit the international website www.amfpa.com

Australian Greeting Card Images by MFPA Artists. All images courtesy of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists.

Artists: profiles of MFPA Artists

Bruce Peardon 1945 - 2001

Bruce Peardon was born in Queensland in 1945 and at the age of fifteen, joined the Royal Australian Navy. While on leave in Victoria during 1962, he was injured in a motor vehicle accident which resulted in paralysis of his arms and legs. He was just seventeen years old.

Bruce had always been interested in art and it was during his time recovering at the Austin Hospital Spinal Unit in Victoria that he met two artists who painted by holding a paintbrush in their mouth. They were both members of the international Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists.

Encouraged by the success of these artists, Bruce taught himself to paint using the same technique. Two years later he was accepted as a student of the international MFPA, becoming a full member in 1970.

Bruce painted many Australian bush scenes and landscapes, largely inspired by the area in which he lived in south-east Queensland. He also enjoyed painting children in amusing situations. His work has been captured on greeting cards and also shown at exhibitions.

In addition to painting, Bruce's interests included watching Rugby Union and cricket, and coaching a local school Rugby team.

Bruce wrote and illustrated three children's books which were published by MFPA - Teddy's Night Lost in the Bush; Charlie the Chimneysweep and Sooty;
and Old Billy's Enchanted Valley. They have so far been translated into 16 languages.



John Smith (born 1946)

Growing up in rural Queensland, John Smith developed a passion for riding horses. After leaving school at age fifteen, John worked as a stockman in the Mackay district for a number of years, eventually managing a cattle property for a local doctor.

It was while mustering cattle one day that John, suffering the effects of an illness, fell from his horse, hit the back of his head, and was paralysed in his arms and legs. He was just two days short of his 25th birthday. After a period of hospitalisation in Brisbane and unable to find suitable care in Mackay, John went to live in a Brisbane nursing home.

One day a social worker took John to meet an artist by the name of Russell Wolff who painted with his feet. Russell was confined to a bed, could only breathe with the assistance of an apparatus, but was able to move one foot. John was so inspired by Russell's achievements that he began to teach himself to draw by holding a pencil in his mouth.

Eventually, John was able to return to Mackay to live. He was encouraged and supported in his artistic pursuits by the West Mackay Rotary Club and the local arts society. In 1979, a lady from the local arts society sent some of his paintings to MFPA and as a result, John was offered student membership.

In 1981, John married his wife Therese, and two years later he became financially independent after receiving full membership of MFPA. With a loan provided through the Association's international office, John and Therese found a block of land near the ocean and built a house with an art studio and a gallery for exhibiting John's work.

John is well known for his colourful paintings of the outback, Australian native birds and the Great Barrier Reef. He and Therese frequently give presentations to local clubs and associations to increase public awareness of issues for people with disabilities.

Caption: John Smith gives a painting demonstration to local school children.
Photo courtest Mouth and Foot Painting Artists


Margaret Greig (born 1937)

Margaret Greig was born on the south coast of NSW in 1937. She grew up on her parents' dairy farm in Moruya, one of seven children. At the age of 13, Margaret contracted poliomyelitis and as a result, lost the use of her legs and hands, regaining only limited movement in her arms.

Encouraged by a nurse during her time in hospital, Margaret taught herself to write by holding a pen in her mouth and this enabled her to complete her education by correspondence. She also began draw - an activity she had enjoyed at school.

Three years after her illness, Margaret returned home to Moruya and to her mother's care where she remained some years until her mother's health began to decline. She then made the decision to move to a home in Penrith where she enjoyed the friendship of other people with disabilities and found employment in the home's sheltered workshop.

In addition to drawing, Margaret had learnt to paint with water colours. One day a friend brought her a set of oil paints and with this, her enthusiasm for painting rapidly increased.

In time, MFPA came to learn about Margaret's artistic ability and after viewing some of her paintings she was invited to become a student member. She worked hard to improve the quality of her paintings and it soon became obvious that she required a studio in which to paint. It was then that friends invited Margaret to share their home in Londonderry, NSW, where a studio was built for her use.

With her growing success in art and the support of MFPA, Margaret was eventually able to build a home of her own near her friends. There she holds regular exhibitions of her work to raise funds for an association for people with disabilities. She has also enjoyed travelling both in Australia and overseas.


Australian Theatre of the Deaf

The idea for an Australian Theatre of the Deaf (ATOD) was formed during the 1970s, with drama being used to enable people who were deaf to express themselves creatively, and to share it within the deaf community. The concept gradually evolved and entertainment was created for both hearing and deaf audiences, with strongly visual presentations, which included the use of sign language, being interpreted by hearing actors or by voiceovers.

ATOD is the only company of its kind in Australia. It has toured extensively in Australia and overseas, including New Zealand, USA, Asia and Europe.

Some of ATOD's activities include
* Shows designed for school children of all ages
* Public performances for deaf and hearing audiences
* Workshops in visual theatre, sign singing and visual communication
* Interpreted performances of major theatre productions by other companies

ATOD continues to win both local and international recognition for its contribution to the Arts and to community education. It performs shows for around 50,000 Australian school children each year and is supported by the Australia Council for the Arts and the NSW Ministry for the Arts.


Painting with the Senses

In 1996 Leanne Crawford's career took an extraordinary turn when she became art teacher at St Paul's Special School in Kew, Victoria. In her new role, Leanne found herself developing creative and challenging ways for children with intellectual, physical, sensory and learning disabilities to participate in art.

Most of Leanne's pupils have a significant physical disability in addition to a vision impairment, therefore, art is created through stimulation of the senses. Materials used can include fragrant oils and essences, edible ingredients and materials which make interesting noises.

Creating textured paint is one of Leanne's specialities - egg yolk, yoghurt and shampoo are just some of the elements which she uses. To give contour, soap flakes, lentils and spaghetti may be added, while, for that uniquely Australian smell, lemon-scented gum leaves and paperbark strips have sometimes been incorporated into murals.

Sound, touch and taste are the key elements of the sensory art process for Leanne's pupils. Students gain great delight from crunching paper or ripping it into strips and adding it to a collage. Another favourite is immersing hands in warm paint and smearing it over layers of bubble plastic wrap. Students are also taught to mould with clay. If edible ingredients are used, the students may even get to eat the artwork afterwards.

The great thing, as Leanne has found through teaching both children at St Paul's and the adults who attend her workshops, is that sensory art is non-threatening. You don't have to be good at sketching or painting to create art, and unlike works in traditional galleries, you can touch it as much as you like.

Recently, Leanne and her students were visited by members of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. The musicians observed the art classes, created music which was inspired by what they saw, then performed as the students were creating art. The end result was a totally interactive and deeply emotional experience for all concerned.

For Leanne and her pupils, the final "artwork" or "product" is not as important as the actual process of creating the art. To increase students' enjoyment and to deepen the creative experience, Leanne describes the textures, smells and touch sensations of the various art materials as they are being used.

The goal of sensory art is not necessarily to create something aesthetically beautiful. According to Leanne, beauty is found in the joyful moments experienced by each of the children as they learn to communicate through artistic expression.

Leanne has travelled to the United Kingdom, USA, Sweden and France to learn more about sensory art. She intends to use her own experiences to write a book about sensory art education and to highlight the value of sensory art for people of all ages and backgrounds.


Discussion and Further Reading

Questions to Explore in Class

1. How does artistic expression benefit people in general?

2. Why is it important that people with disabilities have access to the Arts in the same way as the rest of the community?

3. How can people communicate through art and creativity?



Creative Ideas

* Choose a theme from this resource and paint a picture about it.

* Choose a theme from this resource and write a poem, song or short story about it.

* Attend a performance or exhibition of one of the many Arts groups for people with disabilities.



Further Reading

Painters First: Art Celebrating the Conquest of Misfortune - by Marc Alexander

Visit the website of the Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists Worldwide:
www.amfpa.com