INC NEWS - INC's Ken Gasch in today's Herald-Sun

[John Schelp]

Durham artist's gift helping craft some skills
By Brianne Dopart, Herald-Sun, 3 August 2007

Some see art as therapy. 

For Ahmad Paktiawal, it's a way back from the abyss of
drug addiction. 

Paktiawal is an Afghan refugee addicted to crack
cocaine for 10 years before turning his life around in
a two-year program with Durham's Triangle Residents
Overcoming Substance Abuse (TROSA). 

Never during his decade of drug abuse, he said, did he
stop creating art. 

Drawing was his hobby and his true passion, even when
drugs were helping him to lead a life he didn't want
to lead. 

So it's fitting that Paktiawal, now a member of
TROSA's Scholar program and a student at UNC Chapel
Hill, was tapped to lead a new project that wouldn't
be possible without the generosity of a local
community activist and artist. 

Ken Gasch, a father and real estate agent whose
whimsical creations are sold across the state and
country in posh galleries and upscale craft stores,
said he was looking for a new challenge and a new line
of business when he decided to give up his business,
HLD Productions. 

"I was ready to climb different mountains," Gasch
said. "For a while I had been going through the
motions of the business and then I began thinking
about selling it." 

But then Gasch had a thought: He could give his
business to TROSA and TROSA residents could learn
skills while generating much needed income for the
private, nonprofit organization. 

Gasch donated his entire business, and sold a few
pieces of equipment, to the organization so production
could start immediately. 

"It was something I'd spent so many years on, but I
feel good about moving on," he said. "I just feel
really good about the skill set it brings and what it
can teach others." 

Gasch didn't just turn the project over -- he's been
deeply involved in training. Paktiawal said Gasch has
come to the warehouse every few days to answer
questions and help when Paktiawal and his trainees get
stuck. 

Paktiawal is leading the project and works training
others on how to craft Gasch's most popular sellers,
lever and pulley based machines with a spinning wheel
that offers answers to questions. 

Pull the lever on the box labeled Fortune Teller to
find out if your mother-in-law is moving in. Watch the
wheel spin and get a wisecrack response: Is the Pope
Catholic? 

Ask the Meal Planner what to have for dinner and get
counseled: Seafood Delight. 

Now, Paktiawal and two other TROSA residents are
headed to an art show in Philadelphia for their first
opportunity to present their version of Gasch's art.
The show, to take place Saturday, will be Paktiawal's
debut and the realization of a long dream. 

He's shown his own work at shows, he said, but never
imagined going to a major trade show. 

"And I never managed myself using a skill saw, or
training others," he laughed. 

Bright-eyed and soft-spoken, Paktiawal knows he's been
given an important task. He said he's determined to
continue Gasch's former business and to pass on the
skills he's picked up to others in the program. 

"I am honored to be continuing Ken's legacy," he said.