Instruments of Ability

                                                        (a)

As an extension of the approaching 50 hour weekend of printmaking to raise funds for artists with disabilities from the Artel workshop based in Redcliffe I recently documented many of the assemblage instruments adapted to fit individual artists capacities and methods of engaging in drawing, mark making and printmaking. A  piece of pva piping extending from a footballers protective head gear with a graphite pencil secured in masking tape manufactured for someone who has minimal use of their fingers and hands. In a combination of bamboo and timber dowel a graphite pencil is embedded at an acute angle bound with masking tape in order to provide the maximum engagement with surface. The handles of etching plate ink dabbers modified and contorted into shaped angles that make the application of ink more efficient. A paint brush reinforced with layers of masking tape to enable a fluid touch of surface. Essentially in their visual articulations each of these modified instruments allow for an emotional response that has the capacity to dissolve notions of difference between 'abled' and 'disabled' expressions.  

.                                         (b)

                                                         (c)

                                          (d)