Art of adaptation on show at gallery

Andrew Mathieson
IN the art world of polite applause and kiss on both cheeks, Pam Farey lets her mouth do all the talking – and painting.
Motor nerve damage that affects her hands, wrists and one leg has forced the former Geelong woman to adapt to mouth painting.
She is one of 17 mouth and foot painters set to display more than 140 works at Geelong West’s The Shearers Arms Gallery for two weeks from Monday.
Pam, who now lives at Linton, north-west of Geelong, was seeking a break from books at university when she discovered mouth painting two decades ago.
“It was really trial and error – no one really taught me because there weren’t many mouth painters around back then,” she says.
Pam laughs about her comparisons with children’s television character Mr Squiggle, who drew with a pencil for a nose.
“I even talk with the brush in my mouth,” Pam says.
“It’s a bit like people with a cigarette but mine’s a paintbrush.”