ARTWORK BY LOUISIANA ARTIST
ACCEPTED INTO MDA ART COLLECTION

“Pollen Fun”

TUCSON, Ariz., June 20, 2007 – A photograph by Yvonne Nieves of Avondale, La., has been accepted by the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s Art Collection. Now in its 16th year, the Collection features artwork by people from across the country with neuromuscular diseases.

Nieves’ “Pollen Fun” is a photograph of a Skipper butterfly, common to southern Louisiana, sipping nectar from a Portulaca bloom in Nieves’ back yard. Nieves took the photograph in the early afternoon, June 27, 2006, with a Sony Mavica FD200 camera.

Nieves, 48, worked as a senior certified pharmacy technician until the effects of muscular dystrophy made the demands of her job too difficult to overcome. She enjoys camping, gardening and crafts, and has been an amateur photographer for five years.

Nieves has central core disease (CCD), a genetic disorder that causes poor muscle tone and persistent muscle weakness; skeletal deformities, including joint dislocations and scoliosis; and susceptibility to malignant hyperthermia, a dangerous, adverse reaction to anesthesia. She limits her walking and standing, and uses a wheelchair for mobility if she’s going to be out for long periods of time.

“We’re deeply honored to welcome Yvonne Nieves’ work into the permanent MDA Art Collection,” MDA President & CEO Gerald Weinberg 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 Nieves is on display at MDA’s national headquarters in Tucson, Ariz., and can be seen at www.mda.org/commprog/art/displayall.aspx. Nieves’ piece also 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 more than 335 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 area adults and children affected by neuromuscular diseases at Louisiana State University Medical Center and Children’s Hospital in New Orleans.

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