PAINTING BY PAYSON ARTIST IS MDA ART COLLECTION'S 250th PIECE
"Mine", by Edith Sarraille |
TUCSON, Ariz., Feb. 6, 2001 - A second painting by Edith Sarraille of Payson, Ariz., has been accepted by the Muscular Dystrophy Association's Art Collection. The artwork is the 250th piece to be accepted by the Collection that features artwork by people from across the country with neuromuscular diseases.
Sarraille's "Mine" depicts a Mexican child standing in front of a wooden shack in a sandy desert. The little girl is clutching a brand new doll and shyly looking away from the viewer. The oil painting is rich in earth tones of orange, blue and tan.
The new addition by Sarraille will be exhibited at MDA's national headquarters in Tucson, Ariz., and be included in MDA Art Collection traveling exhibits. The Collection was established in 1992 to focus attention on the achievements of artists with disabilities, and to emphasize that physical disability is no barrier to creativity.
"We're delighted to have another lovely painting by Edith Sarraille in the permanent MDA Art Collection," said MDA Senior Vice President and Executive Director Robert Ross. "It is an added pleasure that her painting is the landmark 250th piece for our Collection. Her artwork will undoubtedly enchant all who see it as it travels to galleries and museums as part of special exhibits of the Collection."
The painting was inspired by a trip to the Baja Peninsula region of Mexico. She and fellow American retirees brought toys and gifts for Christmas to a Mexican village that had fallen into poverty when the local brick factory went out of business. The girl in the painting was one of 300 children who received gifts from Santa Claus in an effort Sarraille spearheaded. Sarraille said the girl was dressed in hand-me-down clothes and was very shy, but immediately became possessive of her new doll.
Sarraille, 76, has been painting seriously since she retired to Arizona in 1982. Her work has been displayed in local galleries and businesses and purchased for private collections in Arizona, California and Mexico.
In 1996 she received a diagnosis of spinal muscular atrophy, a progressive motor neuron disorder that causes weakness in the arms, legs and torso.
The permanent MDA Art Collection currently comprises works by artists ages 2 to 82 and represents 44 states. Each artist is affected by one of the neuromuscular diseases in the MDA program.
Selected art from the Collection has been exhibited at the Dallas Museum of Art; Cork Gallery at Lincoln Center and Forbes Magazine Galleries in New York; Tucson Museum of Art; Bishop Museum in Honolulu; Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center; Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art; Los Angeles Children's Museum; University of California-Berkeley and Fresno Metropolitan Museum; Duluth Art Institute; Capitol Children's Museum, Washington, D.C.; and the Henry Ford Centennial Library in Dearborn, Mich.
Visitors can also send an e-Postcard featuring one of a variety of selections from MDA's Art Collection.
MDA is the nonprofit health agency dedicated to curing muscular dystrophy, ALS and related diseases by funding worldwide research. The Association also provides comprehensive health care and support services, advocacy and education. MDA maintains a clinic for area adults and children affected by neuromuscular diseases at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix.
The Association's programs are funded almost entirely by individual private contributors.
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