Garden Scene by Kirkwood Youth Accepted by MDA Art Collection

"The Garden," by Sarah Schwegel

TUCSON, Ariz., Aug. 9, 2002 - A colorful crayon creation by Sarah Schwegel of Kirkwood, Mo., 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.

Sarah's "The Garden" was created using brightly colored crayons, and depicts a garden on a sunny day, with a multihued rainbow framing some flowers.

Sarah, 9, is affected by spinal muscular atrophy, which primarily affects the motor neurons that control the muscles of the body. She uses a motorized wheelchair.

"The Garden" is the second of Sarah's works to be accepted into the permanent MDA Collection, following her contribution to the 2001 MDA Holiday Wishes card collection titled "The Birthday Tree." She served as MDA's 2001 National Goodwill Ambassador.

"The sunshine and the rainbow pictured in ‘The Garden' form a perfect metaphor for what Sarah Schwegel has brought to the MDA community. We're absolutely delighted to welcome Sarah'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 will be exhibited at MDA's national headquarters in Tucson, Ariz., and will be included in MDA Art Collection traveling exhibits. It also can 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 some 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 Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

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