5th International President of the Mouth and Foot Painting Association

Tom reaches top of organisation

Alton artist Tom Yendell has been elected
president of the Association of Mouth and
Foot Painting Artists (MFPA).

After 40 years as a member Tom has reached
the top of an organisation which works to help
800 artists around the world who paint with
their mouths and feet achieve commercial
success.

He was elected at the association’s Delegates
Convention, during which elected senior artists
voted on behalf of all the members to choose
their president and members of the Artists
International Management Board.

The association is 70 years old this year and
celebrated with an exhibition at Lindley Hall in
London to which Tom contributed.
Tom was born without arms and hands due
to his mother being prescribed Thalidomide
during pregnancy.

He grew up using his mouth, feet and chin to
do everyday tasks, teaching himself to draw
and paint with his feet and later his mouth.
Tom went to Treloar’s before earning a
bachelor of arts degree in expressive arts at
Brighton University. He joined the association
as a student artist in 1986, was elected to
the Artists International Management Board
in 2013, and last year was made an Officer
of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for
outstanding contribution to young people with
disabilities.

He said “I knew about the Mouth and Foot
Painting Artists from a very early age. Little did I
know however, in 1989, when I stood watching
the then minister for the disabled open an
MFPA international exhibition at the Royal
Festival Hall, that I would rise up the ladder in
the association to become its president.
“Becoming president of the International
Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists
is the highlight of my 40th year being involved
with such an amazing organisation. I am so
proud. I get the chance to give something back
to our fantastic company, as it provided so
much for me both artistically and financially.”