“One of the things I that I learned was that I could write my name with a pen in my mouth,” said Mariam Paré, ambassador for the Mouth and Foot Painting Artists (MFPA).
At the age of 20, Paré was a victim of gun violence and sustained a spinal cord injury that left her quadriplegic. She had been an artist her entire life, and could suddenly no longer use her hands.
“Through therapy and rehabilitation I learned I could do a lot of things in new ways,” she said. This included mouth painting. She is now 39-years-old, still painting, loves challenges, and dreams of becoming a professional artist.
As part of a USA tour for the MFPA, Paré gave a workshop today at the Kidspace Museum, in Pasadena, demonstrating her mouth painting technique. Many children were present and excited to try Paré’s mouth painting.
“It was hard. Painting with your mouth,” said Yoselin Romero. But Romero’s classmate, Guilhermo Mendez-Romo, disagreed saying it’s “easy.” Romo demonstrated, “paint this way, paint that way,” he said, as he moved his head left and right, up and down.
Cindi Bernhardt, also a disabled mouth painter and member of MFPA, said, “this is a great opportunity to demonstrate and show the kids that I can paint with my mouth and there are different ways to create art, other than with your hands.” Bernhardt began painting in 1981 as therapy after her injury, when she fell out of a two-story window and severed her spinal cord. Bernhardt enjoys painting “landscapes, seascapes, still life” and has been serious about her painting since 1991, when the MFPA asked her to become a member.
The MFPA is an international association formed in 1956, owned and run by disabled artists. To view the work of many of these artists you can visit their website at www. mfpausa.com
