Goucher Presents 'King Gimp' Dan Keplinger

February 14, 2011 |

Goucher College will hold a screening of The King of Arts, a documentary featuring Baltimore-born Dan Keplinger's struggle with cerebral palsy and his work as an artist, on Monday, February 14, at 4 p.m. in the Pinkard Room of the Athenaeum. A Q&A session with Keplinger will follow the documentary.

This event is free and open to the public. To attend, please contact Santa Wallace at sawallac@goucher.edu by Thursday, February 10.

During February, Goucher will also exhibit Keplinger's work in the Lenrow Gallery outside the Pinkard Room in the Athenaeum. 

Keplinger was born with severe cerebral palsy, a condition that leaves him with little control over the muscles of his arms, legs, or mouth. When filmmakers Susan Hannah Hadary and William A. Whiteford met Keplinger as part of their federally funded documentary projects on mainstreaming children with disabilities, he was 13 and could neither speak nor dress himself.

The film King Gimp, The King of Arts precursor, captures Keplinger's move from a state school for disabled children into a mainstreamed class at a public high school, his senior prom, his transition from his mother's home to his first apartment, his friendship with a young woman hired to help him with homework, his first art show, and his college graduation.

King Gimp was awarded the 2000 Academy Award for Best Short Subject Documentary and a 2000 Peabody Award. Schools, universities, and disability organizations often use the film as an educational tool to teach disability awareness and inclusion.

The King's Miracle (2004) and The King of Arts (2007) were produced as follow-ups to his story. The latter explores the richness of a virtual gallery of Keplinger's paintings, sculptures, and pastels and includes his commentary on being an artist.

Now in his late thirties, Keplinger has completed three college degrees and has become a successful artist and motivational speaker who travels nationally and internationally with his wife to inspire others to find their passion in life.

Very Special Arts has sponsored shows of his artwork, which he creates by using a paintbrush attached to a headpiece, all across Maryland. His works have also been shown at the Herbst International Exhibition Hall at the San Francisco Presidio; the Millennium Arts Center in Washington, DC; the Chicago Cultural Center; and the United Nations headquarters in New York City. He is now exclusively represented by the Phyllis Kind Gallery in SOHO, New York.