UK & Ireland

The attractive village of Selborne was once most famous for its association with the 18th Century literary naturalist Gilbert White. But today a more unique attraction is drawing visitors - The Selborne Gallery, home to the Mouth and Foot Painting Artists (MFPA), and featuring their exceptional work.

MFPA artists include Jacky Archer who has recently had a solo exhibition at the Barbican Arts Centre in London and Katrina Gardner is a successful artist who has also brought up four children single-handedly. Tom Yendell has painted a portrait of London Mayor, Boris Johnson, which he presented to the Mayor in 2009.

These are great achievements, but all the more so when you realise that all these artists and many others are disabled and belong to this self-help group, the Mouth and Foot Painting Artists.

Many people already know of the MFPA from the pack of Christmas cards that arrives through their letter box in November, but they may not also know that Alison Lapper, the woman whose statue decorated the spare fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square a few years’ ago, is an MFPA artist, and so is Christie Brown, author of My Left Foot and the subject of an Oscar-winning film.

Painting a bright future

At the heart of the MFPA’s values is the belief that disabled people are entitled to have exactly the same kind of aspirations and expectations as other people and, to that end, the group, works tirelessly to promote and sell the works of around 800 disabled people worldwide – over 30 in the UK alone.

Working with the MFPA

The MFPA was founded in 1956 by mouth painter, Arnulf Erich Stegmann (1912-1984) in Liechtenstein. Explaining why he founded the group, he wrote “There are people all over the world who are handicapped like me and have the ability to paint, yet have to depend on their families or social security payments to survive. I want to form an organisation – an international partnership – of artists who paint using their mouths or feet. It will be a co-operative governed entirely by its members and will market their work in the form of greetings cards, calendars, prints and so on as a proper commercial enterprise. It must never be thought of as a charity.”

All the artists paint either by holding their paintbrush in between their toes or in their mouth and due to their disability they have a much harder time selling their work than the average artist. The association helps them distribute their artwork and offers them the support of other artists. By giving them the structure within which to work, these talented artists can determine the life they wish to lead.

Artists are invited to join the organisation as a student artist if it is judged that their artwork has the potential to develop to a professional standard.

Students are given a grant by the association to pay for tuition and help with the cost of painting equipment. An independent panel of art specialists regularly reviews the work of those who have been granted MFPA scholarships. When it is agreed that a student’s work has reached a standard judged to be equal to that of able-bodied professionals, full membership is granted.

Once an artist is a full member they are given a salary for life, this is a guarantee of financial independence from the state and provides the artist with a monthly income regardless of whether increasing disability makes it impossible for them to continue to produce paintings.

Creative community

Artist Tom Yendell, was instrumental in restoring, setting up and now managing as the curator, the MFPA Gallery, a permanent exhibition covering all aspects of the Mouth and Foot Painting Artists, in the beautiful historic village of Selborne, Hampshire.

The Selborne Gallery, wholly dedicated to promoting and selling the works of disabled artists, was the first of its kind in the United Kingdom and opened in 1992. It now houses the Hampshire Artists’ Co-operative, a community project with almost 20 members. The MFPA has retained a strong presence in the gallery with a section dedicated to MFPA artists.

In 2002, it was recognised by a visit from Prince Charles, himself a keen artist. Tom comments, “We used to get the benefit of people coming to see Gilbert White’s village. Now people come especially to the gallery. Another aspect of the gallery is that it acts as a focal point. Isolation was a problem that affected mouth and foot painters, especially those severely disabled who rarely left their homes. The gallery has given them contact with their fellow artists with whom they can talk about their work.”

In 1988, Tom’s work with this and other projects was recognised when he was awarded RADAR Man of the Year alongside achievers such as writer John Mortimer, entrepreneur Richard Branson and boxer, Frank Bruno.

www.tomyendell.co.uk

The Selbourne Gallery
The Plestor, Selborne, Hampshire GU34 3JQ
Tel: 01420 511347
Find out more about the Mouth and Foot Painting Artists
and future events at
www.mfpa.co.uk