Artists transcend limitations to earn success and appreciation

Stéphane Daraiche with parents (photo: Kristine Berey)

Kristine Berey

When they were children, Serge Laflamme dreaded having to go to the hockey arena with his brother Daniel. “Children can be very cruel,” said Serge, as he recalled the kids making fun of his brother, who was born prematurely with cerebral palsy in 1958.

The neurological damage has, among other things, prevented Daniel from ever using his arms. But now Serge couldn’t be prouder of his brother, a successful artist who lives on his own in an apartment, gets around on a special tricycle and earns his living through his art.

Stéphane Daraiche was an active 7-year old whirling dervish until, in 1975, a car rammed into him as he was riding his bike, shattering life as he knew it so far. His mother Micheline Marley was there to help him as he emerged, a quadriplegic from a six-week coma and had to re-learn everything from scratch. “It took him two years to accept it,” Marley said. “He was very angry at first. We had to take things day by day.”

Along their difficult paths, both these young men discovered they had an aptitude for art. For Daniel, the breakthrough came when he saw a television show featuring a young girl without arms who used her feet to accomplish different tasks. Inspired, Daniel learned to eat and draw with his feet. Eventually, he began taking painting lessons at the Couvent Saint-Joseph in St. Foy.

Stéphane first began using a pencil after his accident in order to communicate with his family, since pronouncing words was, and still is, difficult for him. Though confined to a wheelchair and deprived of the use of any of his limbs, Stéphane learned to hold a pencil in his mouth and manipulate it skillfully. Soon the writing turned to drawing just to pass the time, and his mother bought him coloured pencils, then paints and canvas.

Daniel Laflamme demonstrates his dexterity at foot painting (photo: Kristine Berey)

Today Stéphane lives on his own in an adapted apartment. He paints images of his own design in oil and like Daniel, sells his images with the help of Canada’s Mouth and Foot Painting Artists (MFPA).

At a recent demonstration at Complexe Desjardins, admiring crowds gathered around the two artists as they built up their canvases. Stéphane was putting the finishing touches on a leaping unicorn he created out of his own imagination and Daniel was completing a robin perched on a leafy branch.

MFPA is not a charity. Its mandate is to locate and encourage mouth and foot painters and help them achieve financial independence through the use of their talent. This is especially significant considering that 52% of people with disabilities are unemployed, while only 6% of able-bodied Canadians are jobless.

MFPA Canada was incorporated in 1961. It is the Canadian branch of the international Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists which has 700 members in over 70 countries. The self-supporting organization is owned and controlled by member artists. It creates greeting cards, calendars and gift items such as puzzles, stationery and prints, featuring the images of the painters. The reproductions of the artists’ work are marketed through a direct mail program and provide an income to all member artists, who retain the rights to their original work as well as the net profits from all sales.

For information or to order call 866- 637-2226 or visit mfpacanada.com.