1981-09-20-vancouver-columbian-p12-gordon-vales

September 20, 1981 Vancouver Columbian Page 12:

Artist cuts path to independence

By WENDY REIF

The Columbian

Fingernails and construction paper were Gordon Vales’ ticket to freedom.

Institutionalized for 20 years for a learning disability, the Spokane artist, now 45, makes his livelihood tearing paper into silhouettes.

Dark and light, the elements of the artform emerge in minutes as his sharp nails pierce the paper.

Vales was in Vancouver this weekend for the state convention of the Association of Retarded Citizens.

Tearing animal after animal, he drew nothing beforehand and looked up frequently as his fingers continued to tear.

“I like things of nature because they’re more beautiful,” he said. Birds are his favorite because of their grace and the freedom they exude.

No one should be kept in an institution, he said.

Vales began his craft at age 6 in an Eastern Washington institution for the mentally handicapped.

“I went there for learning,” he said, “I learned more when I got out. I like to be more independent. It’s good for a person, don’t you think?“

Vales was placed in the institution as an infant and remained there until he was 20.

He lived with his art teacher and her husband and worked on their farm before moving to his own apartment in Spokane. Public recognition came with his demonstrations at the 1974 World’s Fair in Spokane.

[Photo]

Gordon Vales tears silhouettes at Inn at the Quay.