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    Drawing Autism
    Drawing Autism
    Drawing Autism
    Ebook238 pages1 hour

    Drawing Autism

    By Jill Mullin and Temple Grandin

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    This “jaw-droppingly beautiful book” explores the work and creative process of artists diagnosed with ASD, with a foreword by Temple Grandin (Library Journal).
     
    In this volume, behavior analyst and educator Jill Mullin has assembled a staggering array of work from established artists with autism like Gregory Blackstock and Jessica Park—as well as many who are unknown but no less talented. Their creations, coupled with artist interviews, comprise a fascinating and compelling book that serves to educate and inspire anyone who knows someone diagnosed with ASD. Mullin’s introduction and the foreword by bestselling author Temple Grandin also provide an overview of autism, and advocate for nurturing the talents, artistic and otherwise, of autistic individuals.
     
    “What is the actual experience of living with autism in a deep-felt sense, beyond the social stereotypes and headline-worthy superskills? Drawing Autism, a celebration of the artistry and self-expression found in artwork by people diagnosed with autism, explores just that. The stunning volume features works by more than fifty international contributors, from children to established artists, that illustrate the rich multiplicity of the condition.” —The Atlantic
     
    “Mullin . . . brings together fascinating works by 40 artists on the spectrum with their answers to her questions about their process.” —The Boston Globe
     
    “A testament to the power of art to reveal the inner world of people living with ASD.” —Publishers Weekly
     
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAkashic Books
    Release dateMar 3, 2014
    ISBN9781617752087
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    Reviews for Drawing Autism

    4.5/5

    28 ratings10 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Fascinating and filled with the most amazing creations. I love this book and share it with everyone I know. My son spent hours looking over this book even after we shared the experience together. Lovely and certainly something to cherish. I received a copy through LibraryThing in exchange for an honest review.
    • 3/5
      As a mother of a speech-language pathologist specializing in working with autistic children and the grandmother of a grandson with Asperger's Syndrome I could not wait for this book. However I found the set-up difficult to enjoy. While the artwork is beautiful, the interviews with the artists were in tiny print. There was room for a larger bolder print. It was hard to fully appreciate this while putting glasses on and off. So I chose to enjoy the artwork!!!! Beautiful!
    • 4/5
      Synopsis: Jill Mullin has collected artwork from across the globe, created by people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Temple Grandin begins the book with a forward. Mullin asked each contributor a series of questions to go along with their piece. Questions included: "How old were you when you became interested in art?" and "What inspires you to create art?" Artists either answered the questions themselves, or a guardian provided answers for them. The book is divided up into sections that compile the pieces into themes.Thoughts: The artwork creates a sense of wonder, joy, angst, and a slush of other emotions. All of the work is fabulous in their own way, especially how it fit into the theme of the chapter. I really enjoyed reading the responses that the artist added to the pieces.A couple of questions popped up when I was reading/viewing this book:-Who is the target audience? I am a special education teacher whose focus is on students with ASD, so the book appealed to me greatly.-Is their any market for this book outside of people familiar with ASD? - I hope so because others can learn a great deal from reading the responses from the artists.-Why was the type so small?! - Hopefully this can be fixed!-How did Mullin gather contributors? Some of the artists are familiar/famous in art circles, but how did she get others to contribute?I found this a fascinating book! Highly recommended!
    • 5/5
      I loved Drawing with Autism by Jill Mullin. What drew me to it was my brother who is several autistic drew wonderful pictures of trains as a child. He is very detailed minded and loves colors. So without even opening the book I knew that I was in for a treat.Opening this book, I was delighted to find Temple Grandin wrote the first opening essay. She describes herself as visually oriented. She struggled with algebra but excelled at geometry just like me. Now I think I know why I am always excited to hear her speak. I have never been told that I am autistic but something deep within identifies with her. She pointed out that her mother encouraged her artistic projects and that is what was really important the nurturing, without that people stop trying. I remember being proud of a picture that I made in first grade. When the teacher picked it and showed it to the entire class and then tore it down bit by bit. I could feel myself rapidly sinking into a hole. The author points out that each of the artists in this book, no matter where they were on the autistic spectrum was nurtured and that was the difference. They were encouraged to do more, they were encouraged to do what they liked in art. I think that is the magic ingredient. The author want to feature artists with autism instead of the unusual mathematic or scientific areas.The chapters are arranged by themes, repetition, another world etc. The book includes everything from cartoons to luminescent pictures of trees in snow to happy figures dancing with a happy dog. One of my favorite is the one with almost 400 birds. All the artists have been nurtured in whatever mode of art that they chose. I love this book!There is only one negative that I have and that is the incredibly small print in this book. I had to use a magnifying glass to read it. Other than that it is the pictures that shine in this wonderful book. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves art.I received this book as a win from the Library Thing but that in no way influenced my thoughts or feelings in this review.
    • 5/5
      This book is a visual treat - and more. Jill Mullin has put together a great collection of artworks, explanations, personal stories, and inspirations. I did miss seeing some sculpture. There must be some ASD artists who go beyond flat paintings and collage into three dimensions. A bit more about autism might have helped me understand some of the works. I scanned/read/viewed the book three times, first skipping through the book without reading, then viewing while reading captions and noting what the original size of each work is, then finally viewing from front to back while reading the commentary and artist bios. Each pass through the book was satisfying. The artists answers to Mullin's standard set of questions were maybe the most interesting part of the work. The final page of text, by Emily L. Williams, explains as well as anything I have read anywhere, why and how a person creates art.
    • 5/5
      I received this book as part of Library Thing's Early Reviewers Free Giveaway, and I thank them greatfully for this glimpse.This is an absolutely stunning collection of art. Stunning not in the way of incredibly beautiful or popular representation, but in the way it hits one in the gut. Viewing the artworks and reading the artists' response to questions is just such a revealing truth. Perhaps they see more clearly. I actually underlined comments as I progressed through the book. There is nothing pretentious about this book, it just is - and it's wonderful, in the truest sense of the word.
    • 5/5
      The quality of the artwork of those ASD individuals whose work is included in this book is amazing. It is so varied and beautiful. If only everyone could appreciate all facets of each individual despite handicaps or differences, what a better world we would have. Kudos to the author and to Temple Grandin for putting together this collection and explaining it to us so clearly. My favorite drawing was "Vogels" (Birds) by David Barth. This was a picture, featured on the cover as well, of about 400 different birds drawn in ink and colored pencils. I loved it because I'm now trying to draw birds with colored pencil. This picture, done by the artist at the age of 10, is a hundred times better than what I can do at age 66. :)Another artist whose drawings I really loved were those of Shawn Belanger. He did colorful drawings of people in city scenes in ink and marker.A picture called "Winter Trees" done in oil by Esther j. Brokaw was simply lovely. Eleni Michael's "Picture #007" of flowers is amazing as well. It was nice to put aside people's differences in these pages and simply focus on the incredible talent of the included artists. My only issue with this book was the font in which it was printed. Its light color and small size was terribly difficult for my aging eyes to see well, although I forced myself to read the entire book because I wanted to fully appreciate the artwork.
    • 5/5
      This book was received as an Early Reviewer Copy.The images in this book are a reminder of the vast and beautiful people who live within the diagnosis of autism. Like the images on the pages, each of us is unique and full of promise. It is a reminder of what amazing things can be accomplished when we are given the opportunity to achieve.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      When this book showed up for LibraryThing Early Reviewers, I hesitated. After all, I find much visual art incomprehensible.But I'm autistic. Maybe, I thought, this will make sense. So I signed up for it.I should have gone with my original feeling. Which is, in a way, the whole problem. Art is fundamentally a matter of communication, and one of the characteristics of autism is communications difficulties. As the book's introduction notes, some autistics are good at art. Others -- I'm one of them -- just don't get it at all. (An important reminder that autistics aren't at all alike; each has a pattern of strengths and weaknesses, and those patterns can be very different.) For an autistic person's artwork to reach me, it has to cross two bridges: One from the other person to the wider world, and one from the wider world to me. For most people, there will be only one bridge to cross. It may be easier. For ordinary readers, this may be just the book to help you understand some autistics.One thing the book does is talk to all the artists, asking why they create art and what the individual images are intended to mean. This will obviously help explain -- I only wish the conversations had been longer. For example, on page 44 there is a drawing of a werewolf by Wout Devolder. Devolder explained that he drew it to express his feelings after a niece and nephew died in a fire. But what has a werewolf to do with a fire? Perhaps that's the whole point of the book.The organization seems... very much targeted at the world outside autism. Autistics like to classify things, and I can think of many ways to classify this art. All works by a particular artist might be placed together. Or art created in the same medium (paint, pencil, whatever). Or art drawn in the same general time period, or by artists of the same age. Or, perhaps, by realism -- drawings of actual objects might be separated from unreal things, and abstract drawings from more concrete. None of these principles is used. Rather, the organization is based on aspects of the autistic experience, such as repetitive tasks or social complications. This may well help explain autism. But the result seems, frankly, a hodgepodge.No doubt that is because I have only two criteria for gauging art: whether it is an accurate depiction of whatever it depicts, and whether that is something worth depicting. (Go ahead, say it: I am asking artwork to be like photographs. I told you I didn't understand art....) The work found here ranges widely in that regard. The art of Jessica Park, of buildings drawn using smaller geometric components, strikes me as beautiful and brilliant. The work of Esther J. Brokaw is also quite well done although it lacks that geometric precision. Shawn Belanger works in a clear, distinctive style, but I don't understand it. Some of the others... just look like scribbles.I am forced to conclude that this book is not for me. But the idea is both interesting and worthwhile. If you are an artistic thinker, and want to see how a very different sort of person sees, and draws, the world, this book may be for you.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Forget everything you thought you knew about Autism. Drawing Autism provides some of the most brilliant pieces of art I have ever seen. Some of the pieces of art will make you smile, other pieces will touch your heart, and still other pieces will leave you breathless and in awe. Drawing Autism knocks down many of the misconceptions, and stereotypes prevalent about Autism. Furthermore, the book reveals that the Autistic mind is filled with creative genius regardless of where an individual may fall under the Autism spectrum. The artwork presented in Drawing Autism articulates visually so profoundly what some of the hopes, dreams, fears, frustrations, interests, and hobbies were of the artists featured. I just found this book to be so inspiring and refreshing.

      1 person found this helpful

    Book preview

    Drawing Autism - Jill Mullin

    AS SEEN THROUGH THE AUTISM SPECTRUM

    BY JILL MULLIN

    Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability associated with social interaction, communication impairments, and rigid and/or repetitive behaviors. An individual diagnosed on the autism spectrum can experience a variety of symptoms, all varying in severity; hence the term spectrum in the disability’s title. An individual can be diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder (NOS) [Not Otherwise Specified], Autistic Disorder, or be diagnosed with Asperger’s Disorder, all of which fall on the autism spectrum. As of 2012, according to the Center for Disease Control, 1 in 88 children are diagnosed with ASD, which affects individuals from all socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic groups; boys are approximately five times more likely than girls to be diagnosed with the disorder.

    Because of the increase in diagnosis over recent years, ASD has experienced increased media attention. Films, TV shows, books, magazines, and newspaper articles have examined the disability in order to increase autism awareness, explore current research and epidemiology, and to examine daily living of individuals affected by the disorder. Because ASD is a spectrum disorder, disabilities as well as abilities and talents can vary from individual to individual. Commonly in the media, individuals with autism have been shown to have great talents in certain areas such as science and math. The intention of this book is to display another area where individuals with autism can have great abilities. Fostering and nurturing abilities despite a diagnosis can help individuals with ASD discover their talents.

    Four years ago, when the first edition of Drawing Autism was released, I was not sure who the audience would be. Would it be individuals with autism? Their families? Artists? As it turns out, the book has universal appeal. I received feedback from people all over the world from various professional and personal backgrounds. There were comments and interest from galleries and museums, cultural institutions, social service providers, personal blogs, and the mainstream media. It was extremely exciting and, honestly, quite unexpected.

    The book’s contributors also expressed enthusiasm. For many of them, it was a thrill for their work to be included in a book that was available all over the world. Some of these artists have told me how they were able to use the book to develop their careers.

    Since the initial release of Drawing Autism, David Barth has sold his work in galleries and was invited to Beijing where he was featured in an exhibit at the Inside-Out Art Museum. When I first met Justin Canha, his charcoal illustrations and remarkably detailed small-scale drawings had already been recognized in arts circles, but in the intervening years he has furthered his career as an artist. In 2011, Justin was the subject of a feature in the New York Times about an individual with autism trying to develop his identity as an adult.

    It is wonderful that the artists in this book have been embraced and served as inspiration to others by way of Drawing Autism. Regardless of whether or not the book’s contributors sell their work or receive media attention, the very fact that their work exists is what deserves to be most celebrated. This is thanks to their individual talents, passions, and compulsions, and the families and friends who surround them and encourage this mode of expression.

    Drawing Autism began with an artist named Glen Russ. At an early age, Glen developed a passion for music and drawing, and was also diagnosed with autism. I met Glen at a residential group home in New York City where he lives with five other men with varying disabilities. During the first two years I worked with Glen, every week he would draw many pictures of his favorite bands, like the Jackson 5, the Temptations, and the Whispers. His stylistic stick figures depicting the bands were drawn singing, dancing, or playing instruments as if they were caught in a snapshot from The Ed Sullivan Show.

    For two years I cheered Glen on. Every day that I saw him I asked, Did you draw any pictures today? If he had, he would display his work proudly (often, the drawings from the day would be held together with numerous staples, variously deployed across the paper). Each day that I saw Glen’s drawings I would ask, Can I take one home with me? He would shrug his shoulders and reply, Ahhh, no. And so this scene played out for two years until one day Glen finally answered, Why yes, you can have it! I was delighted; I put the drawing on my refrigerator for family and friends to enjoy.

    While Glen’s art was displayed in the fine art gallery otherwise known as my kitchen, I had many casual observers comment on it. Guests who would pass through my home inevitably remarked on the unique images and asked about the artist and his inspirations. Their questions sparked my interest to look into other artists with autism, as it became clear to me that there must be others with a unique perspective as

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