Linoleum Block Print By Rockport Artist Accepted By MDA Art Collection

"Dragonflies" by Fred Siwak

TUCSON, Ariz., Feb. 28, 2002 —A linoleum block print by Fred Siwak of Rockport, Mass., has been accepted by the Muscular Dystrophy Association's Art Collection. Now in its 11th year, the Collection features artwork by people from across the country with neuromuscular diseases.

Siwak created "Dragonflies" by first carving the design into a linoleum block, from which an image was then printed on paper. The artist then enhanced the image with pastel colors. He colors each print separately, making each unique.

Siwak, 50, is affected by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease), a progressive disease that causes the death of motor neurons, resulting in the weakening of voluntary muscles. In order to create his linoleum block art, Siwak uses a universal cuff eating strap with a special pocket added to hold his carving tool. Even with this modification, Siwak describes the process of creating his art as long and painstaking.

Siwak has twice won first place for arts and crafts at the Topsfield (Mass.) Fair, and has joined Massachusetts artists Tina Carrick and Linda Siwak to show artworks at the Light and Vision exhibit at the Topsfield Library and the Artwork Trilogy Exhibit at the Linden Gallery in Rowley, Mass. Siwak's "Butterflies" is on display at the River Gallery in Ipswich, Mass.

"We're honored to have such a fascinating and unique creation from Fred Siwak in the permanent MDA Art Collection," MDA President & CEO Robert Ross said. "His contribution to our Collection will undoubtedly delight all who see it as it travels to galleries and museums as part of special exhibits of the Collection."

The new addition by Siwak will be exhibited at MDA's national headquarters in Tucson, Ariz., and will 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.

The permanent Collection currently comprises more than 270 works by artists ages 2 to 82 and represents all 50 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; JFK Center at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn.; Fresno Metropolitan Museum; Duluth Art Institute; Capital Children's Museum, Washington, D.C.; and the Henry Ford Centennial Library in Dearborn, Mich.

MDA is a voluntary health agency working to defeat neuromuscular diseases through programs of worldwide research, comprehensive services, and far-reaching professional and public health education. MDA maintains a clinic for area adults and children affected by neuromuscular diseases at Lahey Clinic Foundation in Burlington, Mass.

The Association's programs are funded almost entirely by individual private contributors.