Painting by mouth

By Lisa Kelly Eason

As her multiple sclerosis progressed, eventually leaving her a quadriplegic, Shirley Patton discovered a new talent — drawing and painting. “God did that for me when I really needed it, when I lost the use of my hands,” Patton said. Shirley Patton (assisted by church friend Margaret Boswell) belongs to the Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists, an international group that helps disabled artists market their works. “It’s really a wonderful organization,” Patton says. “I wouldn’t be where I am if not for them.” The Bartlett, Tenn., resident is one of about 70 U.S. members of the cooperative, which helps disabled artists develop their talent and sell their work. An exhibit of Patton’s pastel pencil illustrations runs through March at the Memphis Botanic Garden’s Water Garden Gallery. Patton, 61, typically paints for two hours every day with the help of a mouth stick and a volunteer assistant. The resident of the King’s Daughters and Sons Home paints from bed with a brush held at the end of the mouth stick. She has several assistants — most of whom she met through church — who help with such tasks as loading brushes with paint and setting up the easel. Patton, a native of Rector, Ark., moved to Memphis in her 20s and attended Memphis State University. She graduated in 1971 with a major in English and a minor in psychology. She owned her own medical transcription business and was living in California with her husband and then 10-year-old daughter when she was diagnosed with chronic progressive MS in 1988. “It’s the worst kind of MS,” she said. “Within four years of my diagnosis, I could no longer walk. The progression to my hands went slower, but about seven years ago, I became a total quadriplegic.” The year of her diagnosis, Patton’s marriage fell apart and she and her daughter moved back to Memphis to be near Patton’s mother. Patton began painting in 1995 after a conversation with artist and fellow church member Liz Campbell. Campbell led a support group for the chronically and terminally ill at Christ Church of Bartlett, and the two discussed art by disabled artists. “I just said in passing, ‘I bet it might be fun to do that with my mouth,’” Patton recalled. “She told the church, several people donated supplies, then she came and presented me with them. I was so surprised.” Campbell, now 70, brought an easel, paints, pencils and paper and began teaching Patton how to draw with her mouth, beginning with drawing squares, circles and other shapes, and adding shading and shadows. “At first I couldn’t even draw a line,” Patton recalled. It took time to develop her jaw and other mouth muscles to properly hold a pencil or brush. Campbell continued to offer encouragement, and Patton was determined to succeed despite the difficulties, to show her appreciation to those who donated the supplies. “I would never have been able to do that on my own,” Patton said. “But then I felt like ‘I can’t give up; I can’t let them down.’” About a year after Patton started painting, Campbell learned about MFPA and helped Patton apply. Founded in 1956 by a group of disabled artists from various European countries, MFPA is an international for-profit organization that helps disabled artists market their works. Patton was accepted into MFPA as a student member, and she receives a monthly stipend for art supplies. She submits all her artwork to MFPA, which stages art exhibitions around the world and also reproduces members’ art in calendars, greeting cards, etc., via catalogs shipped twice a year. Last fall, Patton had her first exhibit at St. Agnes Academy, and four of her pieces were included in an international exhibit in Malvern, Pa. She also had one of her drawings reproduced for the first time by MFPA, on a Christmas gift tag. Patton said she hopes to continue to progress as an artist and to graduate to associate and then full membership with MFPA. Success as an artist may allow her the financial freedom to move closer to her daughter, Amanda Lewallen, who lives in Vermont with her husband and two children and has a third child on the way.