Aspies For Freedom

In the past in Australia, there happened exploitation of Aboriginal children by some people who paid them a pittance to make art and then sold it to tourists.

After reading this story it made me think of that, but I don't think it's exactly the same. Read the story and decide for yourself.

Children with autism express themselves through art

Ryha Gavin is a fountain of information about meerkats, giraffes, rabbits, and many kinds of insects.

As she flipped through the pages of her sketch book, filled with pencil drawings of animals, she offered descriptions and facts about each of the critters she has drawn.

"This is a meerkat. He lives in the desert and he has a long snout and very sharp teeth," said Gavin, a 15-year-old who lives in Neptune, is a student at the High Road School in Dover Township, and has autism.

Rabbits, leopards, lizards and llamas are among the animals she has drawn in her sketch book. As she shows off her drawings, she makes up stories about them and includes factual information she has obtained by doing research on the Internet.

"She loves to draw and she's always loved wildlife," said her mother, Robin Gavin, as she and her daughter recently looked at some of the younger Gavin's artwork on display in the waiting room at Mike's Barber Shop in the Lincroft section of Middletown.

"From the time she could walk, she would spend hours watching ants. She would watch a spider spinning its web and could catch flies with her hand," said her mother about her daughter's love for nature.

The walls of Mike's Barber Shop soon will be turned into an art gallery as art by Gavin and other children in the autism community is submitted and then put on display through a community program developed by Suzann Brucato of Middletown.

Brucato, a Web developer, said she already extends her services to organizations in the autisim/Asperger syndrome community at a discounted rate. The community art project she recently initiated gives children with the syndromes a way to display their artistic expressions, she said.

"The purpose of the program is to reveal and cherish their hidden talents," said Brucato, whose nephew was diagnosed with autism four years ago.

So, young artists are being asked to submit original 8 1/2-inch by 11-inch artwork. Three-dimensional art work such as sculpture, weaving or larger art renderings should be submitted in digital format, Brucato said. Those who submit art should include a card, which is available at the barber shop, with the artist's name, age, address (for mailing purposes only), a short biography of no more than 100 words, the title of the piece, and an optional two-sentence description.

"I'll first submit these works of art to KindTree Productions, where they will be displayed on a page dedicated to New Jersey artists," she said. Submitting artists will receive 50 percent of sales for any imprinted products sold through KindTree, she added.

The images also will be copied, laminated and digitally framed for display at the barber shop on an ongoing basis, Brucato said, adding that the UPS Store in the Lincroft section of Middletown will donate color printing and laminating of the art.

In addition, the artwork is being displayed on the online museum Brucato created on her business's Web site.

Danielle Butler, who is the media teacher at the High Road School for students facing learning disabilities, language and social challenges, said that Brucato's project is a good way to display the students' work.

"It can serve to show the community how talented they are," she said.

"I'm happy to have the artwork here," said Michael Nesci, the owner of the barber shop. "I think my customers will enjoy it."

Idon't think it's quite the same, but certainly they should be recieving more than 50%.

So, what happens to the other 50%  :?:

I am partly worried for the children that participate in so called 'autism art' type things. If there is a real future for them in art, it will not be helpful to be catagorised as an 'autistic' artist. 'Autistic' artists are viewed as a curiosity, perhaps as savants, and their work not given the credit or respect that is it's due.

Perhaps this won't be true in the future, if autistics are recognised as having value as individuals, but currently that is not the case.

The fact that the journalist said she is a "fountain" of information made me wince a bit.  Hyperlexia can be hard to live with sometimes, particularly around people whose grammar is appalling.
Alison

I don't think the children are being ripped off.  50% of the proceeds is actually quite a good cut, considering the artists aren't paying any of the reproduction, printing, marketing or sales costs.  That's probably better than what most commercial artists get.

While any time there is profit to be made it is worth being skeptical, because altruism certainly isn't the main motive, I think this program may be a good way for the world to start to see that autistics can be talented, too.  While I'm sure each artist, once they grow up, would rather just be an "artist," and not a "autistic child artist," at this point in their lives having their art on display and sold will be ego building.  Kids are always proud to have others cherish their work.  Lol, OK, the kids I've known are always proud, and I'm assuming that in this case autistic kids are going to be the same as other kids - - feel free to educate me if I'm wrong!  Just, I know either of my kids (one Aspie and one NT) would be really proud to have their work sold.  And I STILL have fond memories of when I, as a child, got to paint a mural that was hung up at the airport.  I went with my family to see it.  No one paid me a dime.  I was just proud that others seemed to like what I had created.

When a program is taking advantage of an unsophisticated group, that's a different matter.  But children all have parents who are watching out for their interests.  In the case the Aboriginal children, the parents may not have understood the profit the vendors were going to make.  But the autistic kids should have parents that do understand how the world works, and who will hopefully know their kids well enough to know if this will be positive, or negative for their particular child.

I have to agree with DW_a_mom here.  Fifty percent is not too bad; I recieved a two-week trial subscription on deviantArt, which gave me the option to make my work available for fifteen percent of profit.  And I could pay a one-time fee for a print acount, which would make it available for fifty percent, but I would have had to continue my subscription, which unless you win a lifetime subscription as a prize (which you have to be good, popular, AND extremely lucky in order to do) has a certain cost per term.  Then they expire and you have to buy a new one.  Then there's the cost of electricity, internet access, whatever device you use to put you work in digital format, let alone a computer.  

Here, it's fifty percent minus the cost of paper, media, and postage.  Some people might be persnickety enough to spend a couple thousand on such things, but generally one submission to this project would be cheaper than what's needed for deviantart functionality.

Amy wrote

It certainly wasn't only indigenous child artists who have been ripped-off, adult aboriginal artists have been victims of exploitation by comissioning art agents and have also had their intellectual property stolen when their art has been reproduced to decorate merchandise without credit or royalties being given to the artists. I imagine that autistics could be expoloited in the same way. A lot of the "value" of the art comes from the authentic Aboriginal identity of the artist. I bet the same thing could be true of art done by artists known to be autists. Both Aboriginal and autistic people can be vulnerable to exploitation, due to cultural and communication barriers.

Quote from article

And I'm from the dwarf planet Pluto!  :lol:

Amy,

Do you have a link to this story that you could post? (A broken link is okay). I am wondering what the source was of this article. Thanks!

50% is a fairly typical rate for a small scale online prints sales service, it's hardly a special deal.

DeviantART for instance offers a rate of 50% if they handle it fully; up to 100% minus Production costs if you advertise and sell the work directly yourself and handle the transactions and shipping.

50% is NOT a discounted rate by any stretch of the imagination.