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Mouth and Foot Painting Artists [Member] Dennis A. Francesconi reaches a potential audience of 10 million readers with the help of HealthNewsDigest.com.

At 17 a Quadriplegic – At 43 a World Class Artist!
By Michael J. McCurdy, Founder/Publisher – HealthNewsDigest.com

“When I arrived at the hospital I thought all they were going to do is some chiropractic work. Little did I know I would remain a quadriplegic for life!”, so said Dennis Francesconi, who at 17 years old, flew 31 feet in the air after his waterskiing boat hit sand, and propelled him head-first onto the beach.

In August 1980, Dennis went water skiing for just the seventh time. At 5’10” and self-described as lean, Dennis enjoyed athletics, specially soccer and baseball. He also tried out for the football team, but his thin frame didn’t enjoy the pounding, nor did he enjoy watching his friend’s wind up with broken legs and arms. “This just ain’t for me,” he said. So when someone suggested water skiing – “it sounded perfect.”

Dennis remembers his Mother’s screams for an ambulance, and his father helping the paramedics load him into an ambulance. He had no pain, and could feel his arms, and wondered why everyone was so concerned. By the time they reached the hospital, feeling from the chest down soon left him. “I honestly thought that a chiropractor would be waiting for me, and adjust everything back into place.”

The diagnosis: A broken neck with the 5th vertebrae literally shattered, and the 4th and 6th dislocated. Dennis has no use of any of his limbs.

For the next 19 years Dennis lived on Social Security Insurance of $600.00 per month and lots of odd jobs: salesman of herbal supplements, real estate salesman to farmers (in an electric wheelchair), and, as he describes it, “I was just grabbing at straws.”

“It was a huge loss” was how Dennis described his life after the accident. “There is no huge settlement. I didn’t get hit by a beer truck!”.

In 1986, on a suggestion from his wife Kristi, Dennis enrolled in a program called “Help Them Walk Again,” which was headquartered in Las Vegas. Exercise programs, electronic stimulation and weight lifting were part of the curriculum, with the hope that someday the scientists may find a cure.

More pushing from Kristi, family and friends led Dennis to enroll in MFPA (Mouth and Foot Painting Artists)

Now approaching its 50th Anniversary, the MFPA enables mouth and foot painters to achieve self-fulfillment through their art. By selling reproductions of their original artwork as greeting cards, calendars and other printed materials, the organization helps the artists achieve financial independence.

“Didn’t you feel ridiculous with a paint brush in your mouth?”, I asked Dennis. “It was just the opposite! It was the first time in years that I felt in charge! I also started to notice how objects were shaded – the lighting at dusk – the beauty in nature. There were also some amusing discoveries, I could only paint by holding the paint brush on the right side of my mouth.”

The organization’s founder, polio-stricken Erich Stegmann, was an early practitioner of mouth painting and sculpting. His vision was to create a worldwide organization of like-minded artists facing physical disabilities and provide them with the opportunity to achieve financial security.

The original organization was comprised of 16 European artists. Today, it has expanded into 70 countries, including the United States, which is home to more than 60 MFPA artists who paint for pleasure and to make a living. Working under the organization’s motto, “Self help – not charity,” the artists don’t let their disabilities stand in the way of benefiting from their hard work.

There are an estimated 180,000 physically challenged people in the United States who could possibly benefit by becoming aware of MFPA.

“After being on public support for 19 years, I was finally able to come off it and regain my independence as a direct result of joining the MFPA,” said Dennis, an MFPA member who has participated in about 70 exhibitions and is presently working on a rose painting for a wine label – his second to date – at an award-winning California vineyard. “I would do anything this organization asked me to because they returned my life to normalcy.”

Francesconi isn’t alone in his optimism. Many other MFPA members have a similar outlook on life and appreciate the opportunity to share their art with the world.

To purchase greeting cards for all occasions, a beautiful full color annual art calendar, stationery, gift wrap, puzzles, books and more, contact:

Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists, Worldwide. www.amfpa.com — manages/oversees the artists and the publishing houses in approximately 43 countries.

In the USA, the publishing house is: Mouth and Foot Painting Artists Inc., Atlanta, GA. www.mfpausa.com [toll free] 1-877 MFPA-USA [1-877 6372-872]

Dennis Francesconi is 43 years old and lives in California with his best friend and wife Kristi. To view some breathtaking works of art, visit his website: www.sconi.com

www.HealthNewsDigest.com — Many thanks to Michael J. McCurdy…

HealthNewsDigest.com is a seven year old Online Magazine that publishes 40 news stories on the Health Industry every Monday morning. Breaking news is reported on a daily basis. They are also the Health News channel on AvantGo, the handheld palm device service, with more than 7 million registered users worldwide. In addition, they are syndicated to thousands of major health industry web sites, wireless phone systems, with feeds to Latin America, Europe and Asia. Also, over 2,000 news editors, directors, and health columnists subscribe and have free access to use any and all content. They are members of the New York Press Club, The Association of Health Care Journalists, and The Online News Association.

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Mouth and Foot Painting Artists [Member] Dennis A. Francesconi creates a beautiful addition to the award winning Hannah Nicole Vineyards label in the form of a rose.

In addition to the rose, all [back] labels carry an acknowledgment for the Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists, Worldwide.

“It’s been very interesting to watch the evolution of this new label. And I’m truly honored to be part of it. I want to thank Neil and Glenda Cohn [owners of Hannah Nicole Vineyards] & [winemaker] John Sotelo for making this happen.

These wines were released during Spring/Summer of 2007 – [Totaling approximately 5,700 cases], or [68,400 bottles], and are doing very well. More unique blends and varieties with this label will be added as time goes on.

2004 Hannah Nicole Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon,
2004 Hannah Nicole Vineyards [Members Reserve] Red wine, [*for HNV wine club members]
2004 Hannah Nicole Vineyards Meritage,
2004 Hannah Nicole Vineyards Red Table Wine,
2004 Hannah Nicole Vineyards Syrah Port,
2006 Hannah Nicole Vineyards Le Melange Blanc (White Table Wine),
2006 Hannah Nicole Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc,
2006 Hannah Nicole Vineyards Viognier,
2006 Hannah Nicole Vineyards Le Melange (Rose),
2007 Mt. Diablo Syrah Reserve [Black Label]
2009 Sauvignon Blanc Reserve, [Black Label]
2009 Viognier Reserve, [Black Label]
*Just to name a few…;)

The Artists Magazine.

Mouth and Foot Painting Artists [Member] Dennis A. Francesconi is nicely featured in a wonderful article that discusses his injury, work, and the MFPA.

The Artists Magazine, December 2005 issue.– Circulation, approximately 250,000…!

Mouth and Foot Painting Artists [Member] Dennis A. Francesconi pays tribute to SGT Eugene Williams by creating this special piece following a touching e-mail message from SGT Williams wife Brandy. This special artwork includes SGT Williams military identification upon the “ID tags” within the painting. This is the third time that Dennis has honored a fallen soldier with a special remembrance piece. When asked why he has done this, Dennis replied, “Mrs. Williams wrote to me just to say ‘thank you for doing the right thing‘,– regarding what I had done in honoring PFC Harris. She was not aware of the first Freedom tribute piece done in honor of PFC Rincon. The date and place of SGT Williams death immeadeatly sounded familiar to me. I researched it, and found that PFC Rincon and SGT Williams were killed in the same bombing attack. I shared this information with Mrs. Williams and then I offered to honor her husband with a Freedom tribute as well. Again, the right thing to do.”

* SGT Eugene Williams, 24, of Highland, N.Y., was killed on March 29th in Iraq when a suicide bomber posing as a taxi driver pulled up close to a roadblock north of Najaf and waved to the troops for help. He was one of four U.S. soldiers who died; including PFC Diego F. Rincon, 19, of Conyers, Ga. Ironically, Dennis’s first tribute painting titled “Freedom” was done in honor of PFC Rincon.

In this photo, Dennis is carefully adding SGT Williams military identification to the special Giclee’ print created specifically for SGT Williams wife and his two children— July, 2005.

Dennis A. Francesconi’s Art comes from his heart — and from his mouth.

By Lori A. Wood / contributing writer to Orbit Magazine / United Spinal Association.
April 2005

Not a Still Life

The ability to appreciate art is largely a subjective matter—a piece can be considered beautiful for any number of reasons. The work of paralyzed Artist Dennis A. Francesconi is as beautiful for the way it is created as it is for the stunning results of his efforts.

Born in Fresno, California, Francesconi had a normal, hyperactive childhood, playing sports, being outdoors, and working on his family’s ranch. “I could never sit still,” he says.

In August 1980, at the age of 17, Francesconi was on a family outing water-skiing at Chowchilla Reservoir, north of Madera, California, when, in a split second, in order to avoid crashing into rocks that came between him and the boat leading him around the reservoir, he let go and hit the shore at high velocity. “When my skis made contact, I was catapulted 31 feet right past my dad, who was sitting on the shore, and I landed flat on my head. It snapped my neck. I was awake during the whole thing.

I remember hitting the ground with my head. I went to get up, and nothing moved.” Just three weeks before the start of his senior year in high school, Francesconi had sustained a level C-5 spinal cord injury (SCI), which rendered him a quadriplegic.

Learning to Be Still

Doctors at Saint Agnes Hospital in Fresno told him that, more than likely, he’d be paralyzed for the rest of his life. “At the time, I couldn’t move anything, except my eyes,” says Francesconi. “I wondered what I was going to do in a world where your hands, legs and everything else are so important. This is a hands-on world, and when your hands are gone, that’s the loss of a magnificent gift.”

Francesconi spent 18 days in the hospital’s critical care unit, then underwent rehabilitation for two and a half months at Fresno Community Hospital. “After the first month, my arms slowly started moving,” he says. He lifted small weights, and learned to feed himself. When he returned home, he chose not to go back to high school. “When I went out in public, I felt like I was being gawked at, so I didn’t want to go back to high school, where image is so important. I thought I would stand out. I had lots of time on my hands to think. Being so immobile was hard and I was depressed. Friends would take me to do the things we used to do, but I became nothing more than a spectator.”

Francesconi coped with these developments by drinking. “I did that for about the first two years, and realized it wasn’t doing me any good.”

A Stroke of Fate

“When I had the use of my hands, I used to admire people who could draw and paint; I didn’t have the patience for it,” Francesconi says. Some nine years after sustaining his injury, Dennis learned to write, sketch, and paint with his mouth.  He was tired of not being able to sign his name.

“I just grabbed that pen with my mouth and wrote my name, because it seemed like a natural thing to do,” he says. “Once that happened, I was doodling up a storm.” People took notice of these drawings, and were impressed. “I was embarrassed by it,” he admits. “I didn’t think they were very good.”

Once the quality of his sketches improved, Francesconi became involved with the Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists (AMFPA). “In college, as a student member on scholarship, I did seventeen paintings a year for them.” Still, artists can’t become full members just because they paint with their mouths or feet. “The quality has to be there,” he insists.  In 1998, he also earned an Associate Degree in Arts from Kings River Community College.

Some artists with disabilities use mouth sticks, which extend the length of their writing or painting utensils. Francesconi prefers not to use them. “I’m a very detailed painter. The further away you get from the painting, the less detail you’re going to have,” he explains. “I bend down and grab the utensil with my mouth. Since I was right-handed before my accident, I have to get it on the right side and get a good grip with my molars. If you hold it with your front teeth, it wobbles. Most of my art is representational, meaning that you can look at it and know what it is.” He also does a few pieces of abstract art for people who attend the organization’s exhibits. “It lets me think outside the box,” says Francesconi. “I love diversity in my painting. I try not to study the old master painters, because I don’t want to become some carbon copy of them. I keep my style my own.”

Francesconi became a full member of the AMFPA in 1999, and since then has received excellent benefits, such as a contract and having his full salary paid to him, even if the day should come when he can no longer paint. He also retains full ownership of his works, ninety percent of which are watercolors.

“I don’t sell my originals. They’re like my kids,” he says. The organization has sent Francesconi to exhibits around the world. “My goal, and that of the AMFPA, is to locate and assist artists who paint with their mouth or feet. Personally, I’ve gone from nineteen years of being on public support––to complete financial independence through the AMFPA’s direct marketing and promotion of our holiday cards and calendars. I’m compelled to help others in similar situations who are interested in achieving success through art.” For further information, interested artists can visit www.mfpausa.com, or call the toll free number, 1-877-MFPA-USA.

One of his favorite paintings, Lunada, can be seen in a different way. “It now graces several thousand wine bottles, with more coming soon.  The back labels carry my name and that of AMFPA.  All labels were designed by me; it’s the first time an AMFPA artist has done this. It was a great feeling to see those bottles rolling off the labeling line,” he says proudly.  The Lunada painting and many others can be seen at his personal Web site, www.sconi.com.
In his spare time, Francesconi demonstrates his unique artistry to schoolchildren. “After I talk to them for a few minutes, they get to try mouth painting themselves. Some of their efforts amaze me.”

Through it all, his wife Kristi has been by his side, caring for him since they were teenagers. “She has always seen beyond the wheelchair, and I have a great deal of respect for that. I consider myself very fortunate to have her in my life,” he says.

Francesconi describes his life as busy, fulfilling, and blessed. He loves what he does, and this is one of the greatest blessings of all.

Dennis was also featured on the cover of the April issue of Orbit Magazine. Many thanks to Lori A. Wood, Chris Pierson, and the United Spinal Association.

Mouth and Foot Painting Artists [Member] Dennis A. Francesconi pays tribute to PFC Adam J. Harris by creating this special piece following a request from his family. This special artwork includes PFC Harris’s military identification upon the “ID tags” within the painting. This is the second time that Dennis has fulfilled a family request to honor a fallen soldier with a special remembrance piece such as this. When asked why he has done this, Dennis replies, “It’s an honor to be asked, and it’s simply the right thing to do.”

* PFC. Adam J. Harris of Abilene, Texas, died September 22nd in Mosul, Iraq, after being shot by a sniper while on patrol in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

In this photo, Dennis is carefully adding PFC Harris’s military identification to the special Giclee’ print created specifically for PFC Harris’s family— November, 2004.