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When she's not attending class at Don Mills Collegiate Institute, the 18-year-old Scarborough resident can be found swimming or playing hockey, hanging out with friends or working away on her paintings.

"I do normal teenager stuff," Orichefsky said.

Orichefsky was diagnosed at birth with Arthrogryposis, a rare, non-progressive congenital disorder that causes multiple joint contractures and is characterized by muscle weakness and fibrosis.

Which means Orichefsky, a talented artist, uses her mouth to hold the paintbrush to create paintings of buildings and scenery from drawings.

After spending her elementary school years at Sunny View Public School in the Bayview and Eglinton avenues area, a special school for students with exceptional physical or health disabilities, Orichefsky moved on to Don Mills Collegiate for high school and has half a semester left before deciding which post-secondary institution she wants to attend to learn graphic design.

But in the meantime, the Victoria Park Avenue and Hwy. 401 resident is gearing up for an exhibit by The Mouth and Foot Painting Artists (MFPA) to commemorate the group's 50th anniversary.

The exhibit will run Sept. 17 to 28 at the MFPA office at 183 St. Clair Ave., west of Avenue Road.

The MFPA is an international, for-profit association of artists who paint with brushes held in their mouths or feet as a result of disability sustained at birth or through an accident or illness.

"People are so used to dealing with hands so most people find what I do challenging and difficult," said Orichefsky, who can paint and talk simultaneously.

Orichefsky's artistic talent landed her a commercial several years ago for Ronald McDonald House Charities alongside hockey legend Wayne Gretzky.

"I was called into the office (at Sunny View) and I was asked if I wanted to be in a commercial for Ronald McDonald House Charities," said Orichefsky, who presented Gretzky with a painting she made of him. "He (Gretzky) was writing with his mouth (in the commercial) and I said 'I thought you were a better stick handler'."

Judith Robert of the MFPA said Orichefsky's love of life shines through in her work.

"She's so cheerful and so enthusiastic and so much life comes from her," she said of the youngest MFPA Canadian member, adding members annually submit 10 to 12 paintings to the MFPA.

The upcoming exhibit is one way the public can experience the work of MFPA artists, Robert said.

"It's really an example of strength and courage and not feeling sorry for themselves."

SIDEBAR

The roots of the Mouth and Foot Painting Artists (MFPA) go back to 1956, when Erich Stegmann, a polio-stricken mouth painter, gathered a small band of disabled artists from eight European countries. Their ultimate goal was to make their living through their artistic efforts, and to obtain a sense of work security that until then had eluded them.

Coupling his creative abilities with business acumen, Stegmann established the MFPA as a co-operative organization that reproduces its artists work mainly in the form of cards, calendars and books.

From the small group he gathered for the inaugural meeting of the MFPA, the group has now grown to represent about 650 members from more than 70 countries around the world.

The MFPA has been operating in Canada since 1961.

One of the main themes of Stegmann's credo was the MFPA must never be regarded as a charity simply because its members are disabled.

To Stegmann, the word "charity" was as abhorrent as the word "pity." The MFPA maintains that it is not a charity and does not qualify for charitable assistance.

To this day, the MFPA's motto in Canada remains: "Self Help - Not Charity."

- The Canadian website of the MFPA