Ahipara mouth painter Kevin Griffiths has three of his artworks in this year's Christmas range of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists' international products.
Ahipara mouth painter Kevin Griffiths has three of his artworks in this year's Christmas range of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists' international products.
Ahipara mouth painter Kevin Griffiths has had three of his artworks chosen as part of an international art group's range of Christmas works.
Local experience provided the inspiration for Griffiths, who has three paintings included in the products in the Christmas range of Mouth and Foot Paintings Artists (MFPA), an international art group that has 850 members in 84 countries throughout the world.
The selection of the pictures for the products for the Christmas range is made by a panel of European experts and the competition is hot; and 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.
Griffiths has three paintings included in the MFPA products in the Christmas range. One is in the Art Calendar and called The Pond, and shows an impish small boy fishing in a pond, with his loyal black-and-white border collie by his side.
The painting draws on Griffiths' love of fishing at the nearby Ninety Mile Beach.
His second painting, Cruise, is also on an Art Calendar and shows a skier in full flight on a fast downhill run.
Ahipara artist Kevin Griffiths has had his work Koi Fish used to illustrate a jigsaw in an international art group's Christmas products.
His other contribution is used to illustrate a jigsaw and is also highly colourful and is called Koi Fish, a stylised rendition of the Japanese ornamental fish crowded together in their pond.
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 when he was 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 pre-Covid days.
Mouth and Foot Painting Artists gets its 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, from special occasion cards, jigsaws, tea sets, address books and calendars, to Christmas serviettes and placemats, gift tags and wrapping paper.
Ahipara mouth painter Kevin Griffiths' work Cruise, which has been included in an international Christmas art calendar.
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 now has 25 members around the country.
The Pond, one of Ahipara mouth painter Kevin Griffiths' three works in this year's Mouth and Foot Painting Artists' Christmas works.
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.
Once an artist becomes a full member or associate, they are guaranteed a salary for life, even if they are unable to continue painting.
For more information or to order any of the artists' products, go to www.mfpa.co.nz.
