Mixed Media Drawing by St. Louis Woman Accepted by MDA Art Collection

"Rest Stop at MDA Camp", Maureen Raisch

TUCSON, Ariz., July 15, 2002 - A mixed media creation by Maureen Raisch of St. Louis 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.

Raisch's "Rest Stop at MDA Camp" is a mixed-media piece, outlined in ink and marker and brought to life using brightly colored pencils to capture the sights and spirit of MDA summer camp.

The piece shows MDA campers relaxing outside a gazebo on a sunny day — reading, playing guitar and enjoying a picnic lunch. It captures the very essence of the MDA summer camp experience, depicting campers' wheelchairs and leg braces off to one side — gone for the moment, but not forgotten.

Raisch, 35, is affected by Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a genetic disorder that results in weakness and loss of muscle bulk, as well as significant motor problems.

"Rest Stop at MDA Camp" is the second work by Raisch accepted into the permanent MDA Collection, following her 1999 donation "MDA Summer Camp."

"We're pleased to welcome Maureen Raisch's latest work into the permanent MDA Art Collection," MDA President & CEO Robert Ross said. "Her 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 Raisch will be exhibited at MDA's national headquarters in Tucson, Ariz., and will be included in MDA Art Collection traveling exhibits. It can also be seen here. 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 300 works by artists aged 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 the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

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