Ahipara artist Kevin Griffiths working on a painting. His work Botanical Gardens will feature on a greeting card which is included among products being sold throughout Australia and New Zealand.
Ahipara artist Kevin Griffiths working on a painting. His work Botanical Gardens will feature on a greeting card which is included among products being sold throughout Australia and New Zealand.
The artworks of Ahipara artist Kevin Griffiths have been sold around the globe, and now one of his latest paintings will feature on a greeting card included among products being sold throughout Australia and New Zealand by the Mouth and Foot Paintings Artists group.
Griffiths’ love of colour was the inspiration for the painting entitled Botanical Gardens whichwill be featured on a greeting card from the Mouth and Foot Paintings Artists (MFPA), an international art group, which has 850 members in 84 countries throughout the world.
Griffiths, an accomplished artist who paints by holding the brush in his mouth, is a regular contributor to the MFPA art cards.
“My inspiration is colour, and let’s face it who doesn’t like a garden full of colour? I really enjoy visiting all types of gardens and love to take photos of different plants, as nature shows incredible colours and shapes in a variety of plants and flowers,” he said.
“Painting landscapes are a lot of fun. It gives me great satisfaction to watch a blank canvas turn into a beautiful and colourful scene.”
Griffiths has been mouth painting for over 25 years after he broke his neck and lost the use of his hands in a swimming accident aged just 13.
Following his accident, he continued his education and became interested in various forms of art, which inspired him to travel extensively throughout the world.
In 1991 he was awarded the Bruce Hopkins Memorial Award, a competition that started over 20 years ago to commemorate Bruce Hopkins’ contribution to MFPA and artists with disabilities throughout New Zealand.
Since that time, he has received the coveted prize four times. He became an MFPA student member in 1992 and an associate member in 2001.
Botanical Gardens, the artwork of Ahipara mouth painter Kevin Griffiths that will appear on an international card series raising money for Mouth and Foot Paintings Artists.
The selection of the pictures for the products for the MFPA mid-year range is made by a panel of European experts and there is hot competition. As the products this year include paintings by three New Zealand artists they have clearly ‘punched above their weight’ to be successful against artists from so many countries, MFPA said.
The Mouth and Foot Painting Artists gain their income through the sale of products illustrated with their paintings and although this started with Christmas cards, today it includes a wide list of products ranging from special occasion cards, jigsaws, tea sets, address books, calendars, Christmas serviettes and placemats, gift tags and wrapping paper. The jigsaws have been particularly popular during the Covid lockdown.
Founded in 1956 by a group of European artists, MFPA is a self-help organisation that gives people with disabilities the opportunity to fulfil their creative ambitions while still maintaining financial independence by selectively selling their artworks.
MFPA was established in New Zealand in 1961 and currently has 25 members around the country.
To become a student member an artist must qualify by painting using a brush held in either their mouth or foot, having lost the use of their hands through an illness or accident. Student members receive scholarships for art supplies and tuition.
