WATERCOLOR BY BROOKLYN ARTIST
ACCEPTED BY MDA ART COLLECTION
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"Chasing Windmills" |
TUCSON, Ariz., July 3, 2003 — A brightly colored
watercolor painted by Ruth Rubinstein of Brooklyn, N.Y., has been accepted
by the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s Art Collection.
Now in its 12th year, the Collection features artwork by people from
across the country with neuromuscular diseases.
“Chasing Windmills” is a fanciful piece, depicting a small
boat drifting along a river past two windmills. A brilliant sky is reflected
off the surface of the river.
Rubinstein has enjoyed painting since she was a child, winning several
awards for her work while in school, but she had to abandon her art
studies in order to support her family.
Rubinstein now enjoys painting full time at the Surf-Solomon Senior
Center in Coney Island, N.Y. Since 1995, Rubinstein has completed more
than 200 paintings, using a variety of media.
In 1999, Rubinstein received a diagnosis of myasthenia
gravis, a disease of the neuromuscular junction that causes weakness
and fatigability of muscles of the eyes, face, neck, throat, limbs and/or
trunk. Surgery to remove Rubinstein’s thymus gland — a common
treatment for myasthenia gravis — has resulted in paralysis of
her vocal cords, making speech difficult.
“We’re deeply honored to welcome Ruth Rubinstein’s
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 Rubinstein will be displayed 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 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
clinics for New York area adults and children affected by neuromuscular
diseases at Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn, Montefiore Medical
Center in the Bronx and Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow,
as well as Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, Hospital for Joint
Diseases, Mount Sinai Hospital and Medical Center and the Institute
of Rehabilitation Medicine in New York City.
The Association’s programs are funded almost entirely by individual
private contributors.
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